The US Congress has granted the executive branch the right to exempt countries that import Russian weapons from the CAATSA sanctions law if this is necessary in American interests. This is stated in a report published Monday on the website of the House Armed Services Committee on the discussion of members of both houses of Congress on the military budget bill for fiscal year 2019, which summarizes the various agreed upon amendments to the bill.

The document devotes a separate section to the fight against Russia. It does, however, begin with a paragraph stating that US lawmakers have “provided flexibility for [US] strategic partners and allies to move away from Russian military equipment in favor of American equipment,” while maintaining a “modified” right not to impose sanctions on such countries according to the CAATSA law based on the interests of the United States. At the same time, the document speaks of support for the deployment of additional forces in Europe to contain Russia, the allocation of $250 million in military assistance to Ukraine and other anti-Russian measures.

Last week, some US lawmakers, including Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, proposed stripping the executive branch of its authority to exempt countries that purchase Russian weapons from US sanctions under CAATSA. However, the Pentagon has been in favor of such exemptions since the spring: US Defense Secretary James Mattis stated the need not to impose such sanctions against India, Indonesia and Vietnam, since this would harm US relations with these countries.

The most important buyer on this list is India, says Konstantin Makienko from the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies. In his opinion, the immediate threat of sanctions has now apparently been lifted. However, sanctions against Rosoboronexport, which complicate payments in foreign currency, the slowness of bureaucratic procurement procedures in India and cost overruns on the purchase of ultra-expensive Western weapons have led to the fact that long-agreed new contracts have not been concluded with India for several years, the expert notes. In this situation, Makienko believes, Russia has every right to expand military-technical cooperation with Pakistan - previously the doors to the Pakistanis in Moscow were closed, and many of their applications were not even considered, although the United States has always sold more combat systems to Pakistan than to India. despite all the talk about friendship between the “two democracies”.

US Congress postpones sanctions against importers of Russian weapons