What the CAATSA sanctions on Turkey meant for Washington's toolkit
A look back at the US decision, announced on 14 December 2020, to use a Russia-focused sanctions law against a fellow ally.
What happens when a sanctions law aimed at adversaries is turned on a partner? That question hung over 16 December 2020, two days 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 notable for a specific reason: it was the first time the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, known as CAATSA, had been used to penalise a US ally.
The law itself dated from 2017. It imposed sanctions on Iran, North Korea and Russia 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 had approved it by 419 to 3. President Donald Trump signed it on 2 August 2017, though he believed the legislation was "seriously flawed".
The Turkish case therefore stretched a law written with Russia in mind to cover a country that bought Russian weaponry. The S-400 purchase was the trigger, and the sanctions were the consequence Washington chose to apply.
For readers in Kyiv, the episode showed how Russia-related sanctions legislation could reach beyond Moscow itself, to those who bought its military systems.
