Trump to sign bill that will allow India to buy the S400 from Russia
Follow UsUS President Donald Trump is expected to sign the National Defence Authorisation Act 2019 on Monday in a ceremony at a military facility in New York.
The bill will amend the Combating America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) under which any entity doing business with Russia's state, semi-state and private defence and intelligence sectors could face economic sanctions.
The sanctions seeks to punish Russia for its meddling in the 2016 US presidential elections. They also threaten sanctions against third-party countries who buy a significant portion of their military equipment from Russia.
Most significantly for India, Trump's signing of the National Defence Authorisation Act-2019 will enable India to buy the S-400 air defence missile system from Russia without the threat of US sanctions.
India wishes to buy five of the air defence systems.
The National Defence Authorisation Act also cuts US security aid to Pakistan to $150 million, down from the billions it received earlier for its counter-terror campaign and assistance in the Afghan war.