India has been a major buyer of Russian weapons since 2016. Biden officials delayed law enforcement order imposing sanctions on India in trade with Russia.
Biden officials are looking to apply for or lift sanctions on India over its purchase of the S-400 Triumf program from Russia, under the Counting America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), U.S. Ambassador Donald Lu said on Wednesday (local time). ).
Lu’s remarks come at a time when India is being criticized by American lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats, in a debate on “American-Indian relations” for being among the 35 countries that refused to vote on Wednesday to condemn Russia’s attacks.
The most frequent concern in the trial was India-US security cooperation and whether India would be allowed to buy the S-400 Triumf Russian missile defense system, under CAATSA.
Lu said Biden management would still decide to impose sanctions on India under CAATSA.
“All I can say is that India is a really important partner in security and we appreciate the continuation of that relationship,” he said.
As the US strengthens its relations with India as a key component of the war against China, Biden officials have delayed the enforcement of a law directing sanctions on India for trade with Russia.
India has been Russia’s largest arms supplier since 2016. Lu informed the Sun panel that India had recently canceled orders for Russian military aircraft MiG-29, helicopters and anti-tank weapons, and indicated that new sanctions would encourage other countries to do so.
He told lawmakers that Russia was unlikely to be able to sell new products or provide customers with care for existing systems.
“My view is that it will be very difficult for anyone to buy big arms in Moscow in the coming months and years, given the shocking financial sanctions on the authorities, with the support of Congress … I can only assume that India is one of the countries concerned,” Lu added.
Significantly, the voting results displayed on screens at the UN General Assembly showed that 141 countries voted in favor of the Russian-led invasion of Ukraine and that five countries opposed it, with 35 countries, including India, in favor.