Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act
The United States of America enacted the CAATSA law in the year 2017. This law was created to target Iran, North Korea and Russia. In addition, this law can also be enforced against any country or entity that conducts business transactions with these countries.
- Among other provisions, the law primarily deals with sanctions on Russian interests such as the oil and gas industry, the defense and security sector, and financial institutions. These sanctions against Russia were imposed due to Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine in 2014 and alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
- These are unilateral sanctions, and do not form part of any decision of the United Nations.
- Not long ago, India was granted exemption from sanctions regarding the S-400 air defense system by the former Trump administration. Subsequently, Russia started supplying S-400 air defense systems to India in November 2021.
- Russia’s attack on Ukraine and India’s neutral position in relation to this conflict have again brought the S-400 deal into the limelight.
Why is the situation worrying for India?
According to SIPRI Data: Russia has historically been one of the major suppliers of arms and munitions to India. India is still heavily dependent on Russian weapons. Russian weapons account for half of India’s total military imports.
Source – The Hindu
