Putin’s arrival, US’s uneasiness and Petrol Price Cut-Downs

The Kremlin President Vladimir Putin received a warm welcome at the capital city on Thursday and went straight to dinner with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two-day bilateral visit in NewDelhi holds a strategic importance to many countries having ties with India and Russia. It is said that a lot of deals including the new deals and regular upgrades to the older Russian defence equipment will be signed.

This visit has become a snub for the US. The US State Department Official urged the allies of US to forgo any transactions with Russia. CAATSA is a United States Federal law that imposed sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea. By having potential transactions with these countries, the US allies will also be having the trouble of triggering sanctions. Recently, the US imposed the sanction on China, after it made a deal with Russia on buying S-400 missile defence systems.

The officials from the US and India have discussed the issue and India has put forth their argument stating that with growing need for the defence materials and India’s long legacy with Russia, US should consider giving a waiver for sanction under CAATSA.

Will the Trump Administration give a Waiver to India? Time only has the answer.

Locally, an Rs. 2.50 decrease in Petrol price and Rs. 5 cut down in Diesel price was made in the states that are led by the BJP government. While the opposition parties say that this is an act of tokenism, the typical people from states like Tamilnadu and Kerala are agitated by this decision.

They criticized that the prices are never going to cut down and it is the daily wage workers and the middle-class people who are affected by this. At this instant, the Petrol and diesel prices are Rs.84.70 and Rs.77.11 respectively.

Image Courtesy: The Indian Express