Russia begins S-400 missile supplies to India despite US sanctions risk

Russia has started supplying India with S-400 air defence missile systems.

"The first supplies have already been started," Russian media cited Dmitry Shugayev, the head of the Russian military cooperation agency, as saying on Sunday at an aerospace trade show in Dubai.

He said that the first unit of an S-400 systems will arrive in India by the end of this year.

The $5.5 billion deal for five long-range surface-to-air missile systems, which India says it needs to counter a threat from China, was signed in 2018.

READ MORE: Russia in talks to manufacture military equipment in India

Financial sanctions from US likely 

The supplies put India at risk of sanctions from the United States under a 2017 US law aimed at deterring countries from buying Russian military hardware.

India faces a range of financial sanctions from the United States under Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which names Russia an adversary alongside North Korea and Iran for its actions against Ukraine, interference in the US 2016 elections and help to Syria.

New Delhi said it has a strategic partnership with both the United States and Russia while Washington told India it was unlikely to get a waiver from CAATSA.

READ MORE: Will the US sanction India over its Russian S400 missile purchase?