Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not discuss India’s plans to buy Russian S-400 anti-aircraft defence systems with the US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan. Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said on Friday in Delhi.
In October 2018, India and Russia had concluded a $5 billion contract to have Russia’s S-400 systems delivered to India. The deal was signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two-day visit to India.
“The S-400 issue was not discussed, there was an issue of time constraint here. You were in Delhi when this matter was addressed by our External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar at the press conference with the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, so that’s where it stands, no discussion took place,” he said at a press conference.
Gokhale stressed that no issue would affect the strategic relationship between New Delhi and Washington.”This is a relationship which is deep, which is broad, we have some issues, we will work through them but no one issue is going to, in any way, have any impact,” he added. The United States has opposed Indian plans to purchase the S-400 system.
