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Why did Washington sanction a NATO ally over S-400s?
Summary
A look back at the US sanctions on Turkey announced on 14 December 2020 over its purchase of Russian missile defence systems.
What did it mean when Washington turned a sanctions law written for adversaries against a partner? On 15 December 2020, the question was being asked a day after 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.
The announcement, made on 14 December 2020, was reported as the first time the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, known as CAATSA, had been used to penalise a US ally.
The law behind the move
CAATSA is a US federal law that imposed sanctions on Iran, North Korea and Russia. It works by preventing US companies from doing business with sanctioned entities. The Senate passed it on 27 July 2017 by 98 votes to 2, after the House approved it 419 to 3. President Donald Trump signed it into law on 2 August 2017, though he believed the legislation was seriously flawed.
The Turkish case stood out because the S-400 system came from Russia, one of the three countries the law was written to target, while the buyer was a US ally. That is why the decision of 14 December 2020 drew attention beyond the details of the sanctions themselves.
