WASHINGTON \u2015 India is moving forward with a procurement of the Russian S-400 Triumf air and missile defense system, despite possible U.S. sanctions against Moscow, India\u2019s defense minister announced at a news conference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nirmala Sitharaman said June 5 that India has explained to the U.S. \u201chow India and Russia\u2019s defense cooperation has been going on for a long time and that it is a time-tested relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
India has \u201cgot quite a lot of Russian defense assets \u2015 assets, spares and servicing,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the threat of U.S. sanctions \u201cwe have mentioned that CAATSA (Countering America\u2019s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) cannot impact the India-Russia defense cooperation,\u201d she noted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The CAATSA was overwhelmingly passed by Congress in August 2017 \u2015 a 98-2 vote in the Senate and 419-3 in the House \u2015 empowering the legislature to \u201creview and counter aggression\u201d by Iran, Russia and North Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\t