NEW DELHI, Oct 5, 2018 (News Wires) - Russia and India's leaders announced on Friday a raft of deals worth billions of dollars including for an air defence system, as New Delhi walks a tightrope between Moscow and Washington with a wary eye on China. The flagship accord announced during a visit to India by President Vladimir Putin was for the formidable S-400 surface-to-air missile defence system, worth $5.2 billion according to an Indian source. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin to jointly develop a liquefied natural gas project on the Arctic shelf, in a statement following a summit between the two leaders. The joint statement said, "The [two] sides acknowledged the interest of Russian and Indian companies in cooperation in the field of [liquefied natural gas] and welcomed the commencement of supply of LNG under the long-term contract between Gazprom Group and GAIL India Ltd." Other agreements -- following a meeting between Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi that began with a hug -- were in railways and fertilisers and space, with Russia undertaking to train astronauts for India's first crewed space mission in 2022. India's decision to purchase the S-400 flies in the face of the United States imposing sanctions on countries buying Russian military hardware, as happened with China last month. US-Russia ties are plumbing depths not seen since the Cold War, plunging further still this week as Western powers accused Moscow of orchestrating a brazen string of global cyber attacks. However, Washington is in a tricky position with India, seeking to bolster ties with the Asian giant to counter China's growing assertiveness, something which has also rattled New Delhi. Last year India and China had a military standoff over a Himalayan plateau claimed by Beijing and Bhutan, a close ally of India.
