NEW DELHI – US sanctions on Russian military exports have put the brakes ona $6 billion deal with India and may derail the arms purchases of other USallies around Asia, experts say.

Under a law that US President Donald Trump signed in August, any countrytrading with Russia’s defence and intelligence sectors will face sanctions.

The law is designed to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for the 2014annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, involvement in the Syrian civil war andmeddling in the 2016 US presidential election.

But American allies who buy weapons and equipment from Russia, the world’ssecond-largest arms exporter, could suffer as well.

The highest-profile example is India, which wants to buy five S-400long-range surface-to-air missile systems that the country’s military seesas a game changer. The systems are touted as being able to counter theballistic missiles and stealth aircraft that China is developing, whileoverwhelming the capabilities of Pakistan, India’s other main adversary.

The deal, which Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi struck aspart of an inter-government agreement in 2016, has run headlong into the USsanctions law, two officials in Delhi said.