Washington DC: Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna has introduced a stand-alone bill in the US House of Representatives that gives India specific waivers from the punitive CAATSA sanctions.
While India has started importing the S-400 missile defense system from Russia, US President Joe Biden is yet to take a call on CAATSA waiver sanctions. Under the existing laws, the president can give a national interest waiver to countries.
Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) is a tough US law that authorizes the administration to impose sanctions on countries that purchase major defense hardware from Russia. The law was brought in 2017 and provides for punitive actions by the US government against any country engaged in transactions with the Russian defense and intelligence sectors.
The resolution, which has also been endorsed by Congressman Brad Sherman and David Schweikert along with Khanna, has been sent to the House Foreign Affairs Committee for necessary action.
According to the experts, a waiver of sanctions under the CAATSA during this transition period is in the best interests of the United States and the United States-India defense partnership to deter aggressors in light of Russia and China’s close partnership, the resolution said.
