NEW DELHI (News Agencies): Despite several assurances provided by Russia over the months, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has now said in a statement that Moscow cannot fulfill its commitment to provide India’s military with essential defense supplies due to the Ukraine War.
New Delhi has been concerned that the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 might impact military supplies to India. The IAF’s announcement represents the first official confirmation.
This IAF statement comes months after Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his country would continue to export combat systems and provide military supplies to allies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
“Almost all of them have been used more than once in real combat operations,” he told reporters at an arms show.
A parliamentary committee received the latest IAF statement posted on its website earlier this week. Russia had planned a “big delivery” this year, according to an IAF spokesperson, but that delivery may not happen at all.
The report does not mention the specifics of this delivery. The S-400 Triumf air defense system units India purchased in 2018 for $5.4 billion represent the largest ongoing delivery.
Speaking at the Army Expo in Moscow, the CEO of Russia’s Rosoboronexport, Alexander Mikheyev, had said in August last year that they would deliver all five S-400 regiments to India by late 2023. The ongoing war with Ukraine has since led to some tweaking in deadlines.
