Russia Suspends Delivery of S-400 Missiles to China?

Russia Suspends Delivery of S-400 Missiles to China : China is undergoing the biggest international pressure that it had witnessed in decades. However, many India media have reported that Russia which has been very close to China has suspended the delivery of S-400 surface to air missile system to China. Let us see did Russia really suspend the delivery of S-400 missile system to China?

First let us know what is S-400 Surface to air Missile System?

S-400 Truimf is an anti–aircraft weapon system developed by Russia. In 2017, “The Economist” declared it as “one of the best air-defence systems currently made”. The S-400 missile is capable of destroying a target at a distance of 400kms.

Russia Suspends Delivery of S-400 Missiles to China ?

India and Russia signed an Inter-governmental Agreement (IGA) for the supply of five S-400 regiments in the year 2016 during BRICS meeting. The deal was officially signed in October 2018. China on the other hand signed a deal to purchase two S-400 from Russia in 2014. Delivery of S-400 to China started in 2018. China has already tested one of its S-400 missile system for first time in early August 2018.

As per Tass Russian News Agency, Russia had concluded delivery of a second S-400 Triumf missile system to China via maritime transport in December 2019. The the handover certificate was also signed with China in the same month.

However, it believed that S-400 missile systems acquired by China were left without anti-aircraft guided missiles because Russia decided to stop supplying these weapons to China as per the reports in Chinese newspaper Sohu. However, the newspaper mentions that the delivery was halted due to Coronavirus pandemic. It mentions that Russia is worried that the delivery of S-400 missiles at this time will affect the anti-pandemic actions of the Chinese army and does not want to cause trouble to China.

As per the newspaper Sohu, “the work on delivering these weapons is quite complicated. While China has to send personnel for training, Russia also needs to send a lot of technical personnel to put the weapons into service.”

How international Pressure is increasing on China?

Since the outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic, international pressure has been mounting upon China. From US to Australia to India, China has been under international pressure. Recently Chinese embassy in United States was shut down. UK suspended the contract of Huawei from its 5G Technology. In India every second day a new restriction is imposed on Chinese fims.

From banning 59 Chinese apps to restricting Chinese companies from taking part in Government contracts in India, India has increased its pressure on China since the Galwan clash.

The recent news of Russia suspending the delivery of S-400 missile system to China does not stand to be true as per the Chinese media and the Russian Tass media. However, several Indian media have been reporting, “Russia suspends delivery of S-400 missiles to China.” It must be remembered that China had made a deal with Russia for 2 S-400 missile systems. China had already received the delivery of one S-400 missile system in 2018 while the delivery of 2nd S-400 Truimf was completed in December 2019. However, there might be suspension of delivery of missiles for S-400 from Russia due to pandemic as reported by Chinese newspaper Sohu.

One must not forget, though China and Russia share a good relation, recently Russia accused China of spying.