US House votes for CAATSA sanctions waiver to India

The US House of Representatives has passed by voice vote a legislative amendment that approves waiver to India against the punitive CAATSA sanctions for its purchase of the S-400 missile defence system from Russia to help deter aggressors like China.

The legislative amendment was passed on Thursday as part of an en bloc (all together as a single unit) amendment during floor consideration of the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA).

Authored and introduced by Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna, the amendment urges the Biden administration to use its authority to provide India with a Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) waiver to help deter aggressors like China.

In reaction to Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its suspected interference in the 2016 US presidential elections, the US government is empowered by the strict CAATSA law to impose penalties on nations who buy significant defence equipment from Russia.

"The United States must support India in the face of growing Chinese aggression. The US representative for California's 17th congressional district, Khanna, stated, "As Vice Chair of the India Caucus, I have been working to enhance the collaboration between our countries and ensuring that India can defend itself along the Indian Chinese border.

“This amendment is of the utmost importance, and I am proud to see it pass the House on a bipartisan basis,” he said.

The bill, which was introduced in 2017, allows for the US government to take punitive measures against any nation that engages in business with the Russian defence and intelligence industries.

Despite a warning from the then-Trump administration that moving forward with the contract would result in US sanctions, India struck a USD 5 billion agreement with Russia in October 2018 to purchase five S-400 air defence missile systems. Russia's most sophisticated long-range surface-to-air missile defence system is known as the S-400. In accordance with the CAATSA, the US has already slapped sanctions on Turkey for its acquisition of a number of Russian-made S-400 missile defence systems.

Following the US sanctions on Turkey over the procurement of S-400 missile systems, there were apprehensions that Washington may impose similar punitive measures on India.

The US has not yet taken any judgments regarding prospective sanctions or waivers for India under the CATSAA law for its purchase of the S-400 missile defence system from Russia, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The Ministry of External Affairs claims that India has a free-standing foreign policy and based its defence expenditures on concerns for national security.

According to Khanna's remarks on the House floor, there is no partnership more crucial to US strategic interests than cooperation with India.

According to Democrat Khanna, the bipartisan amendment I submitted to the NDAA "marks the most significant piece of legislation for US-India relations to come out of Congress since the US-India nuclear deal."

In order to address the most recent developments in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotechnology, aerospace, and semiconductor manufacturing, the legislation states that the United States-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (ICET) is a welcome and crucial step toward establishing closer partnerships between governments, academia, and industry in the two countries.

To ensure that the United States, India, and other democracies across the world nurture creativity and facilitate technological developments that continue to far outperform Russian and Chinese technology, it argued that such partnerships between engineers and computer scientists are essential.

Fore More Details: 
pic.twitter.com/uXCt7n66Z7

My bipartisan NDAA amendment marks the most significant piece of legislation for US-India relations out of Congress since the US-India nuclear deal.