India will acquire its Russian S400 defence system by the end of 2021, as confirmed by the deputy CEO of the air and space defense concern Almaz-Antey, Vyacheslav Dzirkaln on Monday. India is currently training its current military personnel for these novel defence systems smooth operationalization.
The deputy CEO also shared that “the first group of Indian specialists have completed the training. The second group is undergoing training. I would not talk about the number of people but it is a sufficient number for the Indian armed forces to effectively operate our equipment. I would like to say that the results are shown by the first group of Indian specialists after the training was very high. I would like to note the [high] level of training of Indian specialists.”
#Russia 🇷🇺 confirmed that the S-400 will arrive in #India 🇮🇳 by the end of 2021
Currently, Indian military personnel are being trained to use the S-400
— Samuel Ramani (@SamRamani2) August 24, 2021
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India had initially signed this deal with Russia in 2018 for S400 regiments. Given the shift in geopolitical realities, India has recently become a strategic partner to the US in the Indo Pacific arena. Its involvement in the Quadrilateral Dialogue or commonly known as the QUAD has made Russia uneasy.
On Sergei Lavrov’s trip this year to India, He shared the Russian concerns of India tilting towards the west. On the other hand, the world speculated that the United States would certainly sanction India for procuring the S400 systems. Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankar shared that India’s foreign policy is solely based on its own interests and has nothing to do with choosing sides.
I notice none of my facts on Twitter have been proved wrong: 1. China has crossed LAC and occupied our territory. 2. Govt says disengagement has led to PLA withdrawal from Indian side of LAC is false 3. India buying S400 from Russia will lead to US expelling India from QUAD.
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) March 25, 2021
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India and Russia have nevertheless maintained their bilateral cooperation despite the tensions that persist in these changing dynamics worldwide. India has recently opted to buy at least 70,000 AK rifles from Russia as well.
Turkey is also in the final stages of negotiating a new deal with Russia for the procurement of S400 missiles. The Interfax news agency cited the head of Russia’s Rosoboronexport arms exporter as saying Monday.
As a member of NATO, Turkey has suffered pressure and sanctions, especially from the US to halt this deal. Turkey received its first deliveries of the S-400 in 2019.
So far Turkey has not made any official response to these reports.
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