Sanctions came into effect from January 1 this year. The two countries have had a dialogue on the issue. Sanctions may result in India and China being the only customers for the S-400 air defence system

The S-400 air defence missile system from Moscow will come at a cost of over Rs 30,000 crore

Despite American sanctions against doing defence business with Russia, India will continue negotiations over a deal with Russia to acquire the S-400 air defence missile system from Moscow at the cost of over Rs 30,000 crore.

America has imposed the Countering American Adversaries through Sanctions Act 2017 (CAATSA), which empowers the US administration to push entities doing defence or intelligence business with Russia.

The sanctions came into effect from January 1 this year and the two countries have had a dialogue on the issue.

"The issue of the sanctions has already been discussed between the US and India, but India will go ahead with its decision and continue negotiations to buy the missile system from Russia," a source told Mail Today.

The sanctions have already cast a shadow on the possibility of sale of the S-400 system to various countries including Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which have traditionally been close allies of the US.

Sources said the sanctions may result in India and China being the only customers for the S-400 air defence system which has a striking range of over 350 km and comes in with missiles of different ranges.

Reports suggest that the production lines of the missile system are waiting for orders to come in to start work there in Russia.

China has also signed a deal with Russia for the S-400 but the deal is a truncated one as the Russians don't trust the Chinese for their past track record of reverse engineering weapon systems in violation of Intellectual Property Right laws.

"As far as we are aware, the Chinese missile system will have missiles and radars with much shorter ranges than what is offered by the Russians in the original system," they said.

The deal is stuck over price as India is not willing to pay the price being sought by the Russians, which is close to USD seven billion, the sources said. In the meanwhile, the US has also stated that it understands the Indian concerns on the issue.

"We understand India's concern about this and we are very concerned as well. These sanctions are intended to target Russia -not India," Joe Felter, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for South and Southeast Asia said in the US.

The S-400 air defence missile system is touted to be a game changer in the Indian sub-continent as it will give capability to the Air Force to shoot down enemies airborne early warning systems and fighter aircraft deep inside their territory during conflicts.

India wants to procure the long-range missile systems to tighten its air defence mechanism, particularly when China has been ramping up its military maneuvering along the nearly 4,000 km long Sino-India border.

The S-400 systems are capable of intercepting and destroying airborne threats at a distance of up to 250 miles and can simultaneously engage up to six targets.

Each S-400 comprises tracking and search radar systems, eight launchers, 112 guided missiles, and command and support vehicles. India is looking to procure five regiments of the new missile system which would take care of both its frontiers with China and Pakistan.