India hopes to avoid US sanctions

India is hopeful it will avoid US sanctions over its purchase of Russia's S-400 missile system, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told AFP. New Delhi has been "heard and understood" by the US administration over its accord to buy the S-400 missile defence system for $5.2 billion, the minister said in an interview this week. India made the deal in October, defying US warnings of sanctions on countries buying Russian military equipment. The sanctions were part of measures to punish Moscow for its actions in Ukraine in 2014.