No sovereign guarantee with Russia in S-400 missile defence system deal: Top IAF officer

New Delhi: India’s S-400 missile defence system deal with Russia doesn’t have a “sovereign guarantee”, top IAF officers said on Tuesday.

The officers said Russia doesn’t agree to such pacts in defence deals. They explained that governmentto-government defence agreements with Russia and even the US are “streamlined” and “evolved”.

The statement was made during an IAF press meet on its upcoming ‘Vayu Shakti’ exercise, following a news report which claimed that clauses related to integrity pact and sovereign guarantee were removed by the government in the Rafale jet deal with France.


IAF’s deputy chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal VR Chaudhari in response to a question, said: “No sovereign guarantee is signed with Russia on the S-400.” IAF’s vice chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Anil Khosla, added: “The process of government-to-government agreements with US and Russia are generally streamlined or… evolved. With other countries, it may not have evolved…”