Russia receives advance payment from India for S-400 missiles: Report

Russia has received an advance payment for S-400 air defence missile systems from India, Sputnik reported on Thursday.

"As for India's advance payment for the S-400s, the matter has been settled. Due to objective reasons, we do not comment on technical details," the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation said at the MAKS-2019 air show, currently underway in Moscow's Zhukovsky region.

The report has come days after External Minister S Jaishankar visited Moscow to hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

The deputy director of the defence cooperation agency, Vladimir Drozhzhov, said on July 9, that Russia hoped to receive the advance payment by the end of 2019 so that deliveries could begin in 2020 and be completed by 2025.

New Delhi had signed a USD 5.43 billion deal with Russia for the purchase of five S-400s during the 19th India-Russia Annual Bilateral Summit in New Delhi on October 5, 2018, last year, which Washington had indicated may trigger Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) sanctions.

Washington has repeatedly criticised India's defence cooperation with Russia since it sees the former as its major partner in South Asia.