The United States have put sanctions on Turkey to punish it for buying a major Russian missile defense system called S-400.
Highlights
- This sanction was approved by the President Donald Trump’s administration.
- This is a rare sanction against the NATO ally and it is focused on Turkey’s military procurement agency.
- The United States has banned all the US export licenses and loan credits for the procurement agency and Presidency of Defense Industries.
- Further, President of Turkey, Ismail Demir, has been banned from travel to or hold assets in the United States.
Background
In 2019, Turkey had taken delivery of the $2.5 billion system. The country has neglected the warnings that such kinds of military cooperation is not compatible with NATO. Since, such deals would help Russia to improve its targeting in the Western planes. The U.S. has also suspended Turkey from its F-35 aircraft programme in the past and barred it from purchasing the jet. However, then CAATSA was not invoked on Turkey.
Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA)
It is a United States federal law. The law was signed by USA on August 2, 2017. Since then, the law has imposed sanctions on countries like Iran, North Korea and Russia. The law was passed with the aim of penalising actions that threaten foreign-policy and security interests of America. It was enacted to punish Russia by imposing sanctions on the persons who engages in business transactions with the Russian defence sector. The act seeks prevent revenue from flowing towards the Russian Government.
What kinds of sanctions can be imposed?
The act merely imposes five or more of the sanctions that has been described in section 235. It prohibits the loans to the sanctioned person. It also prohibits the Export-Import bank assistance for exports. It can also deny the visas to persons who are closely associated with the sanctioned person.
