India and Russia signed the big ticket item on their defence agenda, the S-400 Long Range Surface to Air Missile System. The $5.4 billion contract has reaffirmed the "commitment to enhance military technical cooperation between India and Russia, which has a long history of mutual trust and mutual benefit," said the joint statement.
This comes under the shadow of America's Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) wherein India is yet to get a "waiver" from President Trump. The US embassy spokesperson in New Delhi said, "The waiver authority is not for a blanket waiver. It is transaction-specific. There are strict criteria for considering a waiver. Waivers of CAATSA section 231 will be considered on a transaction-by-transaction basis. We cannot prejudge any sanctions decisions."
Interestingly, one of the biggest agreements signed between India and Russia found no mention in the press statements of the two leaders. In fact, the contract was signed by Joint Secretary (Land Systems) and Director General ROE (Rosoboronexport), Russia, just before the bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Putin had begun.
While America has still not announced its decision on this specific deal which India explained to US was a 'legacy item' and should be kept out of the ambit of sanctions. "This is a negotiation that precedes CAATSA by several years or dozens of months", said sources. In 2015, ahead of Prime Minister Modi's visit to Moscow, Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence had signed a manufacturing and maintenance deal potentially worth $ 6 billion with Russia's Almaz-Antey, the subsidiary of Rosoboronexport and key manufacturer of the S-400 air defence system.
