Notwithstanding the threat of American sanctions hanging over India for inking the mega defence systems deal with Moscow, IAF personnel are likely to leave for Russia later this year for training to operate S-400 Triumph missiles, it is learnt.

The delivery of the missile systems is expected to start from October 2020 and will be completed by April 2023.

While the purchase of the S-400 missile systems did not figure in the talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump in Osaka last week, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had told US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his visit to New Delhi that India would do what was in its national interest.

India is feeling quite relieved ever since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed on Saturday after his meeting with President Trump that Washington would not impose sanctions on Ankara over the purchase of the Russian missile defence systems.

“If Turkey is kept out of CAATSA (Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act), why should it be applied to India?” senior officials in New Delhi asked.

The overwhelming view is that the US would ultimately exempt India too from CAATSA provisions over the missile deal since negotiations with Russia over it predated the American law.

The Indian officials said the Americans were fully aware of the strategic environment in the region where India was faced with a series of security challenges. An exemption could be made in the case of India since it is a strategic ally of the US. On top of it, India has become a fulcrum of America’s Indo-Pacific strategy.

India and Russia had inked the $5.5 billion deal for the S-400 Triumph missiles, believed to be the best in the world, at the end of the annual summit between the two countries in New Delhi in October 2018.

However, the US administration has been warning New Delhi of “serious implications” on bilateral relationship if it went ahead with the deal with Russia. In fact, senior officials in the Trump administration have been threatening that India could attract sanctions under CAATSA which restricts defence purchases from Russia.

Though there is no clarity on the payment mechanism, sources say that there would be no delays in the delivery of the S-400 air defence systems to India that will significantly enhance India’s air defence capability.