MOSCOW. Feb 6 (Interfax-AVN) - A contract for the delivery of Russia's Sukhoi Su-35 multirole fighter jets to Indonesia will be fulfilled, the head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC), Dmitry Shugayev, told the newspaper Kommersant.
"No one has terminated the contract; we signed it a year ago, in February 2018," Shugayev said.
"The contract is not just about the supply [of fighter jets]. It also has an offset program that includes technical maintenance and training of specialists, a credit part, and a bilateral trade program. The sides intend to continue the search for ways of its implementation," he said.
Russia understands that Indonesian partners "cannot act and speak their mind on the contract as openly as we would like them to," Shugayev said.
"However, we are receiving relevant messages, no one has cancelled [the contract], and it will be implemented one way or another," he said.
"The issue of submarines is not dead, either, but I cannot report any progress. It is important for us to implement the Su-35 contract, this is a priority and sort of a signal for further work," Shugayev said in response to a question about future cooperation with Indonesia in the field of naval hardware.
Indonesia signed a contract for buying 11 Su-35 fighters to a sum exceeding $1 billion in February 2018, six months after the United States adopted the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). The act imposed sanctions on buyers of Russian weapons as a way of retaliating against Russia's alleged interference in the U.S. presidential election in 2016.
Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said on the sidelines of a forum of ASEAN defense ministers in late October 2018 that the Indonesian government had decided against quitting the fighter contract.
Indonesian Air Force spokesman Novyan Samyoga told the British defense publication Janes at the Indo Defense show in Jakarta in November 9, 2018, that the U.S. sanctions might thwart Indonesia's plan to buy Su-35 fighters from Russia.
Although the contract has been signed, Indonesia might have no choice but quit the deal in case of strict sanctions imposed on it by the United States, he said.