Washington, July 27: The U.S. House of Representatives has approved legislation on Thursday which will allow the United States president to waive penalties against certain countries that purchase weapons from sanctioned Russian defense companies. U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis sought the waiver especially for countries like India and Vietnam. Mattis in his letter to Congress earlier this month stated that the waiver would not benefit Russia but would help the US and the countries which want to have security relationships.

The House passed a defence spending bill that also aims to amend a law that threatened sanctions against countries making significant arms purchases from Russia. The House passed the $716 billion bill, National Defense Authorisation Act for 2019 in a 359-54 vote. The bill will now be introduced in the Senate. After getting passed from the Senate, the bill will be presented before President Donald Trump for his signature. It was written by the joint committee of the two chambers of the US Congress.

The bill amends an existing law Combating America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) that was enacted by the US to punish Russia for meddling in 2016 presidential elections. The law also threatens sanctions against third countries for having any security and intelligence relations with Russia.

The amendment in CAATSA would allow India to purchase the most advanced air defence system S-400 Triumf from Russia without fearing of any sanctions from the US. In the past, the US had raised concerns India’s plans to ink a deal worth Rs 40,000 with Russia to procure the S-400 air defence system. Earlier in July, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also took a dig at the CAATSA.  She said that it was it is an American law and not a UN law.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 27, 2018 11:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).