US President Donald Trump’s
imperious way of threatening to impose economic sanctions on those countries
that defy his authority by trading with countries that they are barred from
dealing with by the US is deeply regrettable. The strategic deal that Russia
has now struck with India for supply of US$ 5 billion S-400 ‘Triumf’ surface-to-air
missile system would predictably come under Trump’s radar. But evidently, at
the talks that were held between India and the US when the US Secretary of
State and Secretary of Defence met India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma
Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman in New Delhi last month, India’s
rationale and dire need in the face of a Chinese-Pakistani nexus was duly
explained in all its ramifications.
A sovereign nation of India’s
size and stature can ill afford to be dictated to on who it should buy its
weapon systems from. With general elections in India just a few months away, no
government can capitulate to a foreign power on decisions that fall within its
domain. Yet, the Modi government wanted to avoid rubbing the US on the wrong
side too hard, hence the attempt to appeal to US’ self-interest in containing
China. By Modi government’s reckoning, the S-400 ‘Triumf’ missile system is a
worthy weaponry to acquire to equip itself better against foreign attacks. It
forms part of the strategic partnership that India has forged with the Russians
with which it has had strategic relations for decades. There can be little
doubt that the Russian anti-aircraft missile system is superior to its American
counterpart.
The S-400 Triumf is an anti-aircraft
system which can shoot down ballistic missiles at a range of 60 kms. It has
several launchers, command and logistics vehicles and can track as many as 300
airborne targets and can destroy 36 of them in one go. While India will receive
the first S-400 squadron within 24 months of signing the deal, the rest will be
delivered in the next four to five years. Indo-Russian relations could have
floundered if India for some reason had failed to strike this deal. It is a
test of nerves for the Modi government especially if the US had flexed its
muscles over the deal but India could not bow down meekly to the US and then
pretend to be a burgeoning Asian power. That the deal reached fruition is an
index that Modi was ready to stick his neck out. He knew only too well that if
he were to succumb on Iranian oil due to fears of US sanctions and on the deal
with Russia on S-400s again on US arm-twisting, his own reputation of being
able to stand up to Trump and to the US in general would have been in jeopardy.
The US reaction to the S-400 deal is yet to fully unfold. All eyes are on
Washington to see how things unfold.
-Francis Lazar.
Associate writer (Diplomatic
& Security),
For FreePressJournal.
