US Secretary of state: warning India not to engage in large-scale arms trade with Russia

Clarke Cooper, assistant secretary of state for political and military affairs, told reporters on Thursday that the United States warned India not to buy Russia’s major weapons, such as advanced air defense systems or fighter planes, because these weapons may hinder India’s defense cooperation with the West. However, in conveying this message, the United States acknowledged that the long-term defense relationship between Russia and India is not “a light switch that can be turned on and off”, and added that the United States does not want to “threaten India’s sovereignty or national defense” < / P > < p > the United States is India’s second largest defense exporter, and its arms sales to India in 2008 were close to zero, and now it has reached To $15 billion. The United States has designated India as a major defense partner and granted it a strategic trade authorization level I status, which gives it free access to a wide range of military and dual-use technologies.