The US government on Wednesday claimed that the wide range of sanctions on the Russian government has forced the Indian government to cancel critical defence import orders such as “MiG-29 orders” and “anti-tank weapon orders”.
These claims were made by Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The Indian Ministry of Defence has not responded to these claims yet, as per a report by the Indian Express (IE).
Lu said that the massive global condemnation of Russia and the associated sanctions due to its act of invasion will ensure that India will take its relationship with Moscow a notch down.
Lu termed India as a crucial partner of the US in the field of security and said that the two countries have put efforts in taking the partnership ahead.
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“India is a really important security partner of ours now. And that we value moving forward that partnership and I hope that part of what happens with the extreme criticism that Russia has faced is that India will find it’s now time to further distances,” Lu said.
Speaking on India-Russia defence partnership especially the impending decision to sanction Indian for the purchase of S-400 Triumf under the 2017 CAASTA (Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act), Mr. Lu said that the decision of the President and the Secretary of State to make.
“I can assure you that the administration will follow the CAATSA law and fully implement that law and will consult with Congress as we move forward with any of them… I am not able to say is to prejudge the decisions of the President or the (Secretary of State) on the waiver issue or on the sanctions issue, or whether Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will bear on that decision,” Lu asserted.
In a USD5.4 billion deal, India had purchased 5 S-400 defence systems from Russia, the delivery of which began in December 2021.
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Meanwhile, the members of QUAD (the US, India, Japan and Australia) have agreed to coordinate more closely to ensure the status quo in the Indo-Pacific is not altered by actions similar to that of Russia’s in Ukraine.
The leaders of the United States, India, Japan and Australia agreed to work towards an open Indo-Pacific where sovereignty and territorial integrity of all the Indo-Pacific nations is acknowledged and respected.
