Under scanner for espionage charges in the United States, China has waded into troubled waters with Russia as well after similar charges became a backdrop for the delay in an already-agreed defence deal between the two countries.

Amid a global uproar against China – coronavirus, military standoff with India, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South China Sea, US – in just the past six months, Moscow has now announced the suspension of S-400 surface-to-air missile systems to Beijing, with the resumption of deliveries yet to be ascertained.

“This time, Russia announced the postponement of the delivery of missiles for the Chinese S-400 system. To a certain extent, we can say that it is for the sake of China. Getting a gun is not as easy as signing an invoice after receiving a weapon. They say that the work on delivering these weapons is quite complicated. While China has to send personnel for training, Russia also needs to send a lot of technical personnel to put the weapons into service,” UAWire reported, quoting Chinese newspaper Sohu.

China, in its response, claimed that Russia was forced to take this decision since it’s concerned that “the delivery of S-400 missiles at this time will affect the anti-pandemic actions of the People’s Liberation Army and does not want to cause trouble to China”, news agency ANI reported.

Back in 2018, China received the first consignment of S-400 missile. The air defence missile system is believed to be the most advanced of its kind and is capable of destroying targets that is up to 400 kilometres away, up to a height of up to 30 kilometres.

The suspension of the delivery comes after soon after Moscow accused Beijing of espionage, despite both countries enjoying reasonably good relations over the past few years.

To substantiate their claim, Russian authorities found Valery Mitko, the president of St Petersburg Arctic Social Sciences Academy, guilty of trading ‘classified materials to the Chinese intelligence’, the TASS reported.