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India's S-400 deal and the CAATSA question
Summary
A retrospective on the Russian air-defence purchase that put India in the path of possible US sanctions.
What did India's purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system mean for its relations with Washington? On 5 October 2018, the question was live: the deal, part of Russia's defence industry exports, potentially exposed India to US sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, known as CAATSA.
The law imposed sanctions on Iran, North Korea and Russia, and works by preventing US companies from doing business with sanctioned entities. The Senate passed it on 27 July 2017 by 98 votes to 2, after the House approved it 419 to 3. It was signed on 2 August 2017 by President Donald Trump, who nevertheless believed the legislation was "seriously flawed".
As of 5 October 2018, the sanctions risk was described as potential rather than certain. For a region watching Russian arms sales closely, the S-400 purchase tied a major defence-industry export to the reach of US sanctions law.
