US Senators warn Biden against imposing sanctions on India over Russian S-400s, and they are not wrong

• There are talks that under a Democratic administration led by Joe Biden, India could finally be sanctioned under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA)
• Two influential American senators have warned Joe Biden against sanctioning India under CAATSA.
• Under CAATSA, a defence deal becomes sanctionable as soon as the purchased equipment is delivered. With India expecting the first deliveries of the S-400 air defence systems anytime now, Joe Biden is faced with a dilemma of the highest order.

U.S. President Joe Biden finds himself in a fix. On one hand, he is accountable to the anti-India, pro-Pakistan and fanatic Islamist lobby within the Democratic party, while on the other, the man is also aware that America’s relationship with India is crucial to it maintaining some significance across the Indo Pacific. India has historically been a very close friend of Russia and still is. In recent times, however, India’s ties with the U.S. and Western world have dramatically been enhanced. However, that has not translated into India abandoning Moscow, as the NATO lobby would have ideally wanted. So, there are talks that under a Democratic administration led by Joe Biden, India could finally be sanctioned under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

This will be a disastrous move if given the go-ahead by Joe Biden. It will undo all the goodwill and deep friendship which has been established between New Delhi and Washington in recent years. Now, two influential American senators have warned Joe Biden against sanctioning India under CAATSA. Republican Senator John Corny and Democrat Senator Mark Warner wrote a letter to Biden on Tuesday calling for a waiver on the grounds of national security and broader cooperation.

“We believe that a waiver for India is appropriate for several reasons,” the senators wrote, adding that India has been cutting its dependence on Russia for defence purchases and, more importantly, “Imposing sanctions at this time could derail deepening cooperation with India across all aspects of our bilateral relationship – from vaccines to defence cooperation, from energy strategy to technology sharing.”

The two senators also added that sanctions could embolden Indian critics who have been warning that the United States “will not be a consistent and reliable partner for cooperation”. Under CAATSA, a defence deal becomes sanctionable as soon as the purchased equipment is delivered. With India expecting the first deliveries of the S-400 air defence systems anytime now, Joe Biden is faced with a dilemma of the highest order.

Read more: CAATSA and the curious case of Indo-US relations

The reasonable and right thing to do, of course, is for the Biden administration to waive sanctions on India, and not try its luck around with New Delhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India signed a $5.5 billion deal with Russia in 2018 for five of the surface-to-air missile systems. However, negotiations for the purchase had started much prior to CAATSA being made a law in the United States. Furthermore, there was not a counter-offer from the United States at the time. The US subsequently offered Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and Patriot Advance Capability (PAC-3) in 2019, by which time the S-400 deal had been finalised.

So, the U.S. really does not have a choice here. Joe Biden must waive sanctions for India, and pray to God that India does not hold a delay in doing so against him for the rest of his tenure.