New developments over US Military sanctions against India on Russian Missile defence system S - 400 purchase: Report
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*New York: **New developments over US Military sanctions against India on Russian Missile defence system S - 400 purchase.*
A senior US official has hinted that Washington may not impose sanctions on India for buying the Russian Triumf S-400 missile defence system but require New Delhi to tighten defence technology security to prevent snooping by Moscow.
The State Department official, who addressed Turkey buying the Russian S-400 missile defence system, did not directly address India acquiring the same system when it was raised during a briefing on Thursday but brought up security issues in cooperating with India.
The State Department approved the USD billion sale of advanced MK 45 5 inch/62 caliber (MOD 4) navy guns to India this week even though India had paid the Russian contractor $800 million as an advance in August for five S-400 units valued at about $5.4 billion.
This and the official`s response appeared to leave room for India to get a waiver from the Countering America`s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which could be applied to India for buying equipment from Russian companies. CAATSA bans countries from buying equipment worth more than $15 million from defence Russian companies listed under it and imposes sanctions against them.
The US has not yet introduced CAATSA sanctions against Turkey, a NATO partner, but has refused to provide it with the advanced F-35 stealth combat jets.
India is not seeking such advanced armaments from the US at this time.
President Donald Trump warned Turkish President Recep Erdogan during his recent visit that the Russian deal is going to put it at risk of sanctions.
But the official said: "The timeline on CAATSA sanctions is not prescribed or absolute. There is still plenty of scope that could be applied as to where sanctions and the breadth and depth of sanctions could be imposed upon Turkey."
