U.S. Imposes Landmark Sanctions on Turkey

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at new U.S. sanctions against Turkey, widespread blackouts across Nigeria, and a deadly virus in India.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi, Russia, on Sept. 4.Sergei Guneyev/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

In a surprise announcement, the U.S. Treasury and State departments imposed sanctions on five Turkish corporations as well as one Turkish national on Thursday for allegedly helping Russia to evade sanctions over its war against Ukraine. The Biden administration accused these shipping companies of repairing vessels connected to Russia’s defense ministry and transporting Russian goods that have military applications, such as drones and sensors.

The sanctions are part of a larger campaign announced on Thursday intended to debilitate Moscow’s economy, energy, and military sectors. More than 150 targets—including Russia’s largest carmaker as well as companies in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Georgia—are among the sanctioned entities. The sanctions package is one of the largest ever imposed by the U.S. State and Treasury departments in history.

“Russia is trying to run a full production wartime economy, and it is extremely difficult to do that with secretive episodic purchases of small batches of equipment from different places around the world,” said James O’Brien, the head of the State Department’s Office of Sanctions Coordination. “The purpose of the action is to restrict Russia’s defense production capacity and to reduce the liquidity it has to pay for its war.”

But by sanctioning top Turkish companies for allegedly allying with Russia, Washington puts additional strain on its already fraught relationship with Ankara. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long played a delicate balancing act between the United States (and its other Western NATO allies) and Russia, and this has only become more complicated since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. While Turkey has provided Ukraine with weapons and military equipment, Ankara has also maintained ties, including on trade, with Moscow.

Yet those ties are also strained now. Ankara led negotiations in 2022 to establish the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which allowed vital food shipments to pass through the Black Sea without fear of attack. The Kremlin’s decision, however, to leave the deal in July sullied its relations with Turkey.

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Interest rate hikes. The European Central Bank (ECB) raised interest rates for the 10th consecutive time on Thursday, marking record-high levels as the continent battles surging inflation. At 4 percent, this is the bank’s highest rate since the euro was established in 1999. Economists predict Thursday’s decision will be the last rate hike in the foreseeable future; prior to the announcement, inflation levels were expected to average at 5.6 percent this year.

Still, there are concerns about the potential downsides of such a strategy, with some analysts fearing that raising interest rates too high could kick-start a recession. ECB President Christine Lagarde was quick to refute these worries. “We are doing that not because we want to force a recession but because we want price stability to be there for people who are taking the brunt of inflation,” she said.

Lights out. Widespread blackouts rolled across Nigeria on Thursday in a “total system collapse.” According to Nigerian Power Minister Adebayo Adelabu, a fire destroyed a transmission line connecting two power plants, causing the grid to fail. Connection was slowly restored throughout the day. Despite outages being somewhat common in Africa’s wealthiest nation—four major grid failures occurred in 2022—this was the country’s worst blackout this year.

President Bola Tinubu has pledged to improve energy infrastructure by allowing state governments to build their own power plants. However, regular power supply is available to less than 50 percent of Nigeria’s population. “Indeed, 63 percent of Nigerians already live in multidimensional poverty, and experts say more people may slide down the economic ladder if the government does not reverse course [on its tax and currency reforms],” Nigerian journalist Pelumi Salako wrote in Foreign Policy.

Virus strikes South Asia. Indian authorities declared containment zones in more than seven villages in the southern state of Kerala on Wednesday to prevent the spread of the deadly Nipah virus. The rare, brain-damaging disease has a high mortality rate, with no known cure or treatment. At least two people have died so far, and 706 others are awaiting test results.

This is not India’s first rodeo with the Nipah virus. Since 2018, there have been three other outbreaks across Kerala. Scientists believe the zoonotic virus is passed through contaminated food or contact with an infected person. Apart from closing schools, Indian officials have warned locals to avoid public areas for the next 10 days.

Arachnologists in Brazil are going where no man has gone before. Scientists named three new species of spiders after Star Trek royalty: Kirk, McCoy, and Spock. The trio’s wide, fused heads and long abdomens made them “ideal candidates for names inspired by the Star Trek universe,” scientist Alexandre Bragio Bonaldo said. “They somewhat resemble Star Trek spaceships.” Live long and prosper, I guess.