NEW DELHI – India could face US sanctions for purchasing high valuemilitary defence items, in particular state-of-the-art S – 400 MissileDefence System, from Russia under the Countering America’s AdversariesThrough Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
Section 231 of CAATSA mandates secondary sanctions on those who conductsignificant transactions with the Russian defence and intelligence sectors,PTI has reported.
These sanctions are intended to target Russia – not India,” Joe Felter,Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for South and Southeast Asia, toldPTI.
India is currently in advance stage of negotiations with Russia for fiveS-400 systemlink>worthan estimate USD 4.5 billion. The air defence system includes radar, missilelaunchers and command center technology.
According to some lawmakers, the latest Indian move to purchase S-400 airdefence missilelink>fromRussia could be considered as a sanctionable activity.
Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and Defence Secretary G Mohan Kumar alsoexpressed their concerns over this during their US visit last month.
“We totally appreciate Indians concerns. It was raised in discussionsduring senior level meetings last month. We also are very concerned becausewe very much hope to maintain the momentum and the trajectory of thisrelationship. We want to deepen our cooperation and not to reduce it,” JoeFelter said.
CAATSA was signed into law in August 2017 and went into effect in Januarythis year. The law mandates the Trump administration to punish entitiesengaging in significant transaction with the defence or intelligencesectors of Russia.
“We are concerned about anything that’s going to make it more difficult forus to cooperate. But it’s just out of our hands this legislation. I can’tanticipate what will actually happen. Any decision to impose sanctions ismade outside of DoD,” Mr Felter said.
“We are committed to building our relationship and keeping it on thecurrent trajectory. We appreciate that that defence trade is a key activityto build this partnership. We will continue to work diligently to maintainthe positive trajectory we are on with this relationship and ideally deepenand expand our defence trade,” he said.
Referring to the growth in India US bilateral defence trade from almostzero to USD 15 billion, Felter said there was tremendous growth potentialfor the bilateral ties.
Atman Trivedi, a former State Department official under the previous ObamaAdministration said that triggering of sanctions on India because of S-400deal would “undermine serious American interests”.
“Too much is at stake to allow individual defence transactions to damage abudding relationship with a promising partner like India. Before it’s toolate, the two countries should quietly work together to find otherarrangements to address India’s defence requirements,” he added.