India will build a plane with a Russian sanctioned company

According to the Memorandum of knowing signed in Moscow, HAL is to make together with the Russian partner the first Indian passenger aircraft. The two-engine, narrow-hull UAC SJ-100 will be able to take up to 100 passengers and operate local connections.

– This is simply a step towards fulfilling the dream of "Aatmanirbhar Bharat" (self-sufficient India) in the civilian aviation sector – an Indian company, which estimates that Over the next 10 years, the Indian aviation sector will request over 200 aircraft to operate local flights and an additional 350 to operate close global tourist destinations.

Amit Malviya, who heads the IT department of the ruling Indian People's Party, wrote that thanks to the transaction India "enters the global civilian aviation market, long dominated by Airbus (Europe) and Boeing (USA)".

Not only civilian aircraft

Reuters recalled that HAL has long been cooperating with UAC, mainly in connection with aircraft for the Indian Army, manufactured under a Su-30MKI fighter license. The Agency stressed that signing the agreement threatens to tighten India's relations with Western countries again. UAC is subject to US, European Union and UK sanctions. According to the U.S. Ministry of Finance, this entity is simply a key company in the Russian military-industrial complex.

The Delhi authorities argue sanctions against Russia and reject criticism from Western states at their address for maintaining at least correct relations with Moscow. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi besides accuses Washington and Brussels of applying double standards and points out that the US and the EU are constantly buying Russian goods worth billions of dollars.

Last week, in consequence to US sanctions against the Russian oil industry, the largest Indian private company in the manufacture reported a crucial simplification in Russian oil purchases.

Polon / PAP