The Biden administration is considering whether to impose sanctions on India over its stockpiles and reliance on Russian military equipment as part of the far-reaching consequences the West seeks to impose on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
Donald Lou, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, told lawmakers Thursday during a hearing that the administration is assessing how threatening India’s historically close military relations with Russia are for US security.
“This is an issue that we are looking at very closely, as the administration is considering the broader question of whether to apply CAATSA sanctions or waive those sanctions,” Lou said.
The Anti-Sanctions Act, passed in 2017 after the Kremlin interfered in the US election, includes the power to sanction deals with Russia’s defense or intelligence sectors.
The law includes a power to release the president, which was used for Turkey, a NATO ally, until December 2020, when the Trump administration imposed sanctions under the law on Ankara’s purchase of Russia’s S400 missile defense system.
In 2016, India was named the “main partner in defense” of the United States, a unique name that serves to boost defense trade and technology. The defense treaties between the United States and India are said to be worth $ 20 billion since 2008.
India is also a member of the quadripartite security dialogue with the United States, Japan and Australia, a group that focuses on countering China’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region.
President Biden
Joe Biden Biden welcomes UN vote: “Detects Putin’s isolation” Night of defense and national security – US tries to cut Russia’s dial Quad on Thursday, according to the White House, “to discuss the war against Ukraine and its consequences for the Indo-Pacific region.”
Lou told lawmakers that the administration was “in the process of trying to understand whether the defense technologies we share with India today can be adequately protected given India’s historical relations with Russia and its defense sales.”
“It is crucial with each partner that the United States can make sure that every defense technology we share is sufficiently secure,” he said.
Lou said the administration had been embroiled in a “fierce battle” with Indian officials over the past few months, leading to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. President Biden, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken
Anthony BlinkenBlinken says “vital, defensive” equipment is reaching Ukraine. Blinken travels to Europe to meet with NATO allies Hill’s 12:30 report – Views and sounds from the state of Biden’s alliance MORE and other senior State Department officials called on New Delhi to “take a clearer position, position opposed to Russia’s actions.
The Secretary-General said that India’s abstention from the United Nations and its commitment to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine were promising steps to change its public position, and that he expected even greater change in the aftermath of outrage over the death of an Indian student killed. in Kharkov, the second largest city in Ukraine, from Russian bombing in recent days.
“I’ve had several conversations with Indian officials over the last 24 hours,” Lou said. “What we can see very quickly is that action has begun to turn public opinion in India against a country they see as a partner, no doubt this partner has killed a young man who was an innocent victim in Ukraine.