Trump administration officials held out the threat that India could come under sanctions if it continued with big ticket Russian arms purchases. New Delhi and Moscow are on the verge of signing the agreement for India's purchase of the multi-billion dollar S-400 Triumf missile defence system from Russia

by Chidanand Rajghatta

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration on Thursday continued to warn India of sanctions + for buying high-end Russian arms after making China the first target of such punishment engineered by American hardliners intent on punishing Moscow for its transgressions.

In a coordinated move, the US state department and the treasury department imposed sanctions on the Chinese military's + equipment development department and its director, Li Shangfu, for purchasing from Russia the Su-35 combat aircraft and a S-400 surface-to-air missile system, the very armaments New Delhi too has its eyes on.

Describing it as a "significant transactions," administration officials held out the threat that India too could come under sanctions if it continued with big ticket Russian arms purchases, although the administration has acquired waiver powers to spare allies and friends such as India from sanctions, and officials have indicated the US will find a way to spare New Delhi the blushes.

But on Thursday, the Trump administration appeared to hedge on the waiver.

"As to other potential recipients of the S-400, we haven't made any determinations yet with respect to what to do about those, but you can be confident that we have spent an enormous amount of time talking about prospective purchases of things such as S-400s and Sukhois with people all around the world who may have been interested in such things and some who may still be," an administration official told journalists on background.

New Delhi and Moscow are on the verge of signing the agreement for India's purchase of the multi-billion dollar S-400 Triumf missile defence system from Russia during President Vladimir Putin's upcoming visit, and Washington appears set on making India sweat as it moves ahead with the deal.

The big question is whether the Trump administration will treat India differently from China. Logically it should, since it is Washington that seeks a strategic relationship with New Delhi with the avowed intent to support India's rise and position it as a counterweight to China - something Indian interlocutors frequently remind their US counterparts about.

But the arms lobby in US also appears intent on using this opportunity to wean New Delhi away from Russian armaments and make a pitch for US arms, even as officials assure that sanctions are not intended to undermine the defence capabilities of any country.

"They are instead aimed at imposing costs upon Russia in response to its malign activities," the unnamed administration official said.

This is the first time Trump administration targeted a third country with its Caatsa sanctions, designed to punish Russia for its seizure of Crimea and other activities.

The hardening of US stance towards India followed the visit of National Security Adviser Ajit Doval to meet his US counterpart John Bolton and other interlocutors on the heels of the 2+2 strategic dialogue involving the foreign office and defence ministries of both countries

Although, Washington seemed to have softened its stand during the dialogue, the engagement with Bolton, a hardliner in the administration, does not appear to have yielded any firm commitment about a waiver for India.

New Delhi has pretty much conveyed that it will do what it takes to meet its security requirements regardless of sanctions threat, including going ahead with the S-400 deal.

Both Russia and China meanwhile have expressed outrage over the sanctions and warned the US of consequences.