India, Russia non-committal on delivery timeline of S-400 weapon system

NEW DELHI: Foreign minister of India and

Russia

, S Jaishnkar and

Sergei Lavrov

, held talks on Tuesday over the two countries' cooperation in

defence

, nuclear and

space sector

.



The two leaders however refused to divulge much on the issue of delivery of S-400 weapons system.

Jaishankar said the S-400s would be discussed at a meeting of defence ministers later in the year.

"We talked about long-standing partnership in nuclear, space and defence sectors," said Jaishankar.

In October 2018, India had signed a $5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defence missile systems.

The US administration had previously warned India of sanctions if it went ahead with the deal. The situation has not changed despite Trump's ouster from the

White House

"If the US says this (sanction) overtly we all will know, but we also know the reciprocal reaction," said Lavrov.


Lavrov also spoke on the inclusion of Taliban in any political settlement of Afghanistan.

“The Taliban movement is part of Afghan society and decisions on the settlement in Afghanistan should foresee the participation of all political, ethnic and religious groups in Afghanistan, otherwise it won’t be durable,” Lavrov said. “And this settlement should reflect a balance of interests of all political, ethnic and religious groups, including their representation in governing structures.”

Lavrov also said Russia is considering manufacturing of military equipment in India.

"We reiterated our commitment to military-technical cooperation,”

Bloomberg

quoted Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov after his discussions with S Jaishankar.

“We have an intergovernmental commission on military-technical cooperation. It has its plans, and this includes discussion of additional manufacturing of Russian military equipment on Indian territory,” Lavrov said.

(With agency inputs)