Indian Navy provides armed escorts to oil carriers

Osaka, June 28 (HS) : India on Friday said India’s decision to purchase S-400 missile defense system from Russia was not discussed in bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump though they discussed ways to step up the bilateral military cooperation.

The S-400  is Russia’s most modern and advance long-range surface-to-air missile defense system. China was the first country to buy this system from Russia in 2014.India and Russia had signed a 5 billion dollar S-400 air defense system deal in October last year. Immediately after the meeting of Japan-US-India, Modi held bilateral talks with Trump. This is the first meeting of Modi’s trump after winning a major victory in the BJP’s recent parliamentary elections.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said that in the interaction between the two leaders, the issue of purchase of the S-400 missile defense system from Russia was not discussed.

The Navy had said in a statement earlier,”In addition, aerial surveillance by Indian Navy aircraft is also being undertaken in the area. The Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region which was launched in December 2018 at Gurgaon, is also keeping a close watch on the movement of ships in the Gulf region.