Home › Security › India's S-400 purchase and the CAATSA question
India's S-400 purchase and the CAATSA question
Summary
A retrospective on the Russian air-defence deal that put India in the potential path of US sanctions.
What did India's purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system mean for its relations with Washington? On 6 October 2018, that question was live, a day after reports on 5 October 2018 that India was buying the system and could face US sanctions as a result.
The reports placed the deal within Russia's defence industry, where the S-400 is a missile system sold abroad. The purchase carried a potential penalty: India could be exposed to sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, known as CAATSA.
What CAATSA is
CAATSA is a US federal law that imposed sanctions on Iran, North Korea and Russia. It 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 by 419 to 3. President Donald Trump signed it into law on 2 August 2017, though he believed the legislation was seriously flawed.
As of 6 October 2018, the reports described only a potential risk of sanctions for India, not a confirmed outcome.
