US senators have taken steps to relieve India from the looming threat of sanctions under CAATSA - a law introduced by the Trump administration in 2017 authorising Washington to impose sanctions on countries that purchase major defence hardware from Russia.
The three Republicans, led by Texas senator Ted Cruz, sought special rules for participants of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) under CAATSA, allowing member nations to execute defence deals with Russia for the next 10 years without any threat of sanctions.
The Quad is comprised of the US, Japan, Australia, and India.
Under the legislation, called the Circumspectly Reducing Unintended Consequences 15 Impairing Alliances and Leadership (CRUCIAL) Act of 2021, the US president needs to certify before the appropriate congressional committees that any Quad partner country is not cooperating on "security matters critical to the United States' strategic interests", before applying CAATSA sanctions on entities from that country.
The bill was co-sponsored by Senators Todd Young (R-IN) and Roger Marshall (R-KS).
The US senators underscored that President Joe Biden should not take steps to undo all the progress made in bilateral relations in recent years.
"Now would be exactly the wrong time for President Biden to undo all of that progress through the imposition of these sanctions, which were meant to deter Russia. Doing so would accomplish nothing except undermining our shared security goals of combatting China's aggression and forcing India to become dependent on Russia", Cruz said in a statement.
Outgoing Indian Ambassador to Moscow Bala Venkatesh Varma said that major defence contracts with Russia such as the S-400s and the manufacture of 1135.6 frigates have already been implemented.
While speaking with the Russian media, Venkatesh also expressed his thought on the annual summit with Russia in December of this year. Several defence agreements, including military-technical cooperation for the next decade (2021-2031) and reciprocal logistical support agreements, will be announced.
India signed a $5.43 billion deal with Russia in 2018 for the delivery of five columns of S-400 missiles by 2023. Despite being warned by successive US administrations about the looming CAATSA sanctions after the delivery of the S-400s, India has remained committed to the transaction.