Imposing CAATSA sanctions will only benefit China, Russia: Mukesh Aghi

The annual India-Russia summit in New Delhi on December 6 culminated in new defence deals and more than two dozen pacts in diverse areas. On the sidelines, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hailed the S-400 air defence missile systems deal with India, and openly accused the United States of undermining the India-Russia cooperation and “to make India obey the American orders.”
The Delhi-Moscow bonhomie was closely watched in Washington, with a distinct sense of unease about the impact the S-400 deal may have on the India-US relations. In this wide-ranging interview with Manish Chand, Founder-CEO and Editor-in-Chief, India Writes Network and India and The World, Dr Mukesh Aghi, President & Chief Executive Officer of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, says that the US won’t impose sanctions on India under CAATSA for the S-400 deal as such a step can set India-US partnership by decades and will only benefit the US’ key adversaries, US and Russia. Mr Aghi also spoke about the likely agenda for the 2+2 dialogue between the foreign and defence partners of India and US and the future trajectory of the India-US economic partnership.