US House passes bill that lets India buy Russian arms

WASHINGTON : The US House of Representatives on Thursday passed a defence spending bill that also seeks to amend a law that had threatened sanctions against countries making significant defence purchases from Russia, such as India, which plans to buy Russian S-400 air defence systems, and exempt them from secondary sanctions.

The $716 billion National Defense Authorization Act for 2019—US military’s budget— passed the House in a 359-54 vote, and now heads for the Senate for a vote next week. Both chambers of the US Congress were expected to pass the bill, as the final version unveiled on Monday was prepared through a “conference” by a joint committee of the two chambers, which in essence wrote it together.

In a clear sign that President Trump will sign it when it gets to his desk, the White House welcomed its passage by the House.

“By supporting key components of the Administration’s National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy, both of which focus on a return to principled realism in an era of great power competition, the FY 2019 NDAA enhances the President’s ability to defend the Nation,” the press secretary said in a statement. “It also supports key components of the Administration’s Nuclear Posture Review, South Asia Strategy, vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region.”

The bill amends an existing law—Combating America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA)—that seeks to punish Russia for the 2016 election meddling.

It also threatened sanctions against countries that made “significant transactions” with designated Russian entities in the sectors of military and intelligence.

That would have left India open to secondary (unintended) sanctions for its plans to purchase five S-400 air defence systems at an estimated cost of $4.5 billion from Russia.

The US Congress was persuaded to amend the law to exempt countries like India and Vietnam after a spirited push from defence secretary James Mattis, backed by secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who argued that punishing these countries under CAATSA would actually push them back into the arms of Russia, which would not be in US interest. “There are nations in the world which are trying to turn away from formerly Russiansourced weapons and systems like this. We only need to look at India, Vietnam and some others to recognize that, eventually, we’re going to paralyse ourselves,” Mattis had said during a hearing.