India may become the first foreign buyer of the new S-500 air defense system, but deliveries will begin only after meeting the needs of the Russian army, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said.
"After we supply these weapons to our native army in the right quantity, India will probably be the first on the list if it expresses a desire to buy these modern means," Borisov said on the RBC-TV channel.
India is one of the main buyers of Russian weapons. The volume of India's arms orders from Russia is about $ 15 billion, and since 1991 India has ordered weapons worth about $70 billion, the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSVTS) of the Russian Federation reported.
It was officially reported that in early October 2018, on the sidelines of the Russian-Indian negotiations at the highest level, a contract was signed for the supply of S-400 Triumph air defense systems to India (Almaz-Antey Concern of East Kazakhstan Region). Under the contract with a total value of $5.43 billion, India will receive five regimental sets of S-400.
In November, the head of the Federal Customs Service Dmitry Shugaev told Interfax that Russia had started supplying India with the first batch of S-400 systems.
