India pursues an independent foreign policy and its defence acquisitions are guided by its national security interests, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday, amid apprehensions over the possibility of US sanctions on New Delhi over the procurement of S-400 missile systems from Russia.
The response by MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi came at a media briefing when asked to comment on India's position on the matter and whether it figured in a meeting of foreign ministers of India, Russia and China.
"India and the US have a comprehensive global strategic partnership and India has a special and privileged strategic partnership with Russia. We also pursue an independent foreign policy. This applies to our defence acquisition and supplies which are guided by our national security interests," Bagchi said.
At a virtual meeting, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov agreed that the imposition of unilateral sanctions beyond those adopted by the UN Security Council was "inconsistent" with the principles of international law, according to a joint communique.