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What the US sanctions on Turkey signalled
Summary
A look back at the CAATSA sanctions announced over Ankara's purchase of Russian S-400 missile defence systems.
What happened when Washington turned a sanctions law aimed at adversaries on a NATO-era partner? On 14 December 2020, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the United States had imposed sanctions on Turkey over its acquisition of the S-400 missile defence system from Russia. This retrospective looks at that announcement, as it stood on 15 December 2020.
The measure was taken under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, known as CAATSA. The law imposed sanctions on Iran, North Korea and Russia, and works by preventing U.S. companies from doing business with sanctioned entities. It passed the Senate on 27 July 2017 by 98 votes to 2, after the House approved it 419 to 3, and President Donald Trump signed it on 2 August 2017, though he believed the legislation was "seriously flawed".
What made the Turkey decision notable was its precedent: it was the first time CAATSA had been used to penalise a U.S. ally. The law's Russia provisions were the basis for the step, and the trigger was Ankara's purchase of Russian air-defence hardware.
For readers in Kyiv and the wider region, the episode showed Washington applying a Russia-focused sanctions tool to a partner country over a deal with Moscow.
