US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis today appealed to the Congress to urgently provide national security waiver to India, saying imposing sanctions on it under a newly-enacted law for buying the S-400 air defence missile system from Russia would only hit the US.
During a Congressional hearing held by the Senate Armed Services Committee, Mattis told American lawmakers that the national security waiver should be urgently provided to India and other countries which are trying to turn away from formerly Russian-sourced weapons to avoid sanctions under Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
CAATSA, became law in August last year and went into effect in January this year, mandates the Trump administration to punish entities engaging in significant transaction with the defence or intelligence sectors of Russia.
India is currently in an advance stage of negotiations with Russia for five S-400 system worth an estimate 4.5 billion US dollars.
Source: AIR