By: Vivek Raghuvanshi
NEW DELHI — U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia are affecting Indian weapons procurement because Moscow is unable to furnish bank guarantees required by Indian law, according to a source in the Ministry of Defence, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Obama administration imposed sanctions against Russia in 2014 in concert with Europe to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for his annexation of Crimea.
"Payment for half a dozen defense deals have been stuck (on account of US sanctions against Russia)," the MoD source said.
The source refused to provide details of the affected weapons programs due to the nature of their sensitivity, but the source did warn that additional defense deals between India and Russia could be affected in the future as a result of U.S. sanctions and the inability of Russia to furnish required bank guarantees.
In making the case for changes to Indian law, Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, said: "There are always exceptions from any rules. The question is whether Indian authorities are ready to do it for Russians.
"To best of my knowledge it is not a problem at all. Europeans and Israelis are ready to integrate their components and sub-systems for all Russian platforms for India. Since India is a biggest democracy in the world. They do it even for countries like Algeria," Pukhov added.
"As for the situation with banks, India, indeed, fears that the Americans might impose sanctions on them [banks] but I don’t have the slightest doubt that this obstacle can be overcome," he told Russian news agency TASS.
Read the full story at DefenseNews