US Senate dropped amendments that will give India a waiver if it purchased Russian arms. The move could imperil India's arms imports from Russia. IAF is close to buying five systems of the Russian S-400 missile systems

On June 27, the US announced the postponement of the July 6th 2+2 dialogue where Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman were to meet their respective US counterparts Mike Pompeo and Jim Mattis.

The 2+2 was the first such summit between the two countries and meant to enhance the defense and security relationship between the two strategic partners. US Foreign Secretary Mike Pompeo called up Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj to say that the meeting was being cancelled due to 'unavoidable reasons' without saying what they were.

The postponement of the summit coincided with other events that signaled a cooling in the relationship. US Envoy to the UN Nikki Haley urged India to 'rethink' its relationship with Iran when she met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on June 27. But, days before the postponement of the summit, another development that could seriously imperil India's arms imports from Russia, raised the alarm in South Block.

On June 19, the US Senate approved the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) for the year 2019, a series of federal laws which specify the annual budget and expenditures of the US Department of Defence. Four India-specific modification that had been inserted when the NDAA had been passed by the US House of Representatives on May 24, were missing from this act.

RUSSIAN S-400 MISSILE SYSTEMS

The four new amendments under Section 1292 of 'Enhancing Defense and Security Cooperation with India' were meant to protect India from the threat of US sanctions under a new law-Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) -- in case it bought military hardware from Russia. The IAF is close to buying five systems of the Russian S-400 missile systems worth an estimated Rs 40,000 crore. The IAF has indicated its preference for the S-400 that has a range of 400-km over the US-made Patriot PAC-3 missiles that have a range of just 70 km.

The NDAA amendments gave the US administration significant leeway in ensuring CAATSA related sanctions that would target countries buying arms from Russia, Iran and North Korea, would not apply to India. The US House of Representatives version of the bill also called for enhanced ties with India and renamed the US Pacific Command as the Indo-Pacific Command stressing the US' responsibilities across both the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

CAATSA SANCTIONS

The amendments empowered the Trump administration to suspend CAATSA sanctions, by describing the limitations that hinder or slow progress in Indo-US ties, 'a description of actions India is taking, or the actions the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of State believe India should take' to advance the defense relationship with the United States, measures that can be taken by the United States and India to improve interoperability. And, lastly, it also inserts an amendment 'progress in enabling agreements between the United States and India'.

The last amendment is meant to reflect the US administration's pique over India's slow progress in signing 'foundation agreements' such as LEMOA (Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement) signed in 2016 nearly a decade after they were first proposed by the US. Two other foundation agreements, the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) are yet to be signed. With the shield of the amendments gone, it can clearly only mean one thing. A purchase of the S-400 missile system from Russia, indeed of a list of $12 billion in military hardware which includes frigates, helicopters and the lease of a nuclear powered attack submarine, will thus attract US sanctions.