IAF snubs Rahul Gandhi, says no sovereign guarantee with Russia on S-400 deal

A top Indian Air Force (IAF) officer on Tuesday said no integrity pact or sovereign guarantee was given by Russia in the S-400 air defence systems deal as the processes of inter-government agreements with countries like Russia and the US were already "streamlined".

The statement comes at a time when a political controversy has erupted over a media report about Indian government having made concessions by allegedly dropping some key clauses relating to anti-corruption penalties and sovereign guarantee in the controversy-hit Rafale fighter jet deal with France.

"There is no sovereign guarantee or integrity pact signed with Russia in the S-400 deal as the processes of inter-government agreements with countries like Russia and the US are already streamlined," Air Force Deputy Chief Air Marshal VR Chaudhary said.



Earlier in the day, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre and asked why it did not take a sovereign guarantee from the French government while signing the Rafale pact.

IAF's Vice Chief Air Marshal Anil Khosla also responded to the questions directed at the government. He said, "We have had a lot of acquisitions from Russians and Americans earlier. The process of the government-to-government agreement with Russia and America are generally already streamlined, or should I say evolved."

It may not be the same case with the other countries, he clarified. "With other countries, it may not have evolved, as the government-to-government (agreement)... may have been the first or just initiated."

IAF officials also said the inter-government deals signed with the Americans and Russians have never had any integrity or sovereign guarantee pact.

On the Rafale jets, the Air Force officials said the programme was on schedule and first aircraft would be delivered in September, this year.

"The twin-seater trainer aircraft would then be flown back to France where it would be used for training and evaluating the avionics and other India Specific Enhancements of the aircraft," the officials said.

The Hindu newspaper had reported on Monday that the multi-billion dollar Rafale deal saw critical provisions relating to anti-corruption penalties, sovereign guarantees and making payments through an escrow account being dropped days before the signing of the inter-governmental agreement (IGA) in 2016.

The S-400 deal was inked by India with Russia in October last year to procure a batch of the missile systems at a cost of Rs 40,000 crore. India went ahead to seal the deal despite sanction warnings from the US.

Russia in January had said there would be no delays in delivery of the S-400 air defence systems to India and a payment mechanism for the deal is being worked out

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, during his India visit had said the missile systems will significantly enhance India's air defence capability.

The Union government had informed Lok Sabha earlier this year that it would start receiving the missile systems from Russia from October 2020 and the deliveries will be completed by April 2023.

 indiatoday