Russian S-400 missiles: Turkey condemns "unjust" sanctions imposed by the United States
This photo, dated August 27, 2019, shows a truck carrying parts of the Russian S-400 air defense system delivered by Russia to the military airport in Murted, near Ankara.
AP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The United States announced Monday, December 14 sanctions against Turkey for its acquisition of the Russian S-400 air defense system.
Citing a law passed in 2017 by Congress to "counter America's adversaries through sanctions" (Caatsa), Washington now prohibits the granting of any arms export permits to the relevant Turkish government agency.
Ankara immediately condemned this decision.
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With our correspondent in Istanbul,
Anne Andlauer
Turkey promises to respond “
in due time
” to US sanctions targeting its government agency in charge of arms purchases, the SSB, the same one that signed the contract to purchase the Russian S-400 system in 2017.
Ankara considers these sanctions “
senseless
” and “
unfair
”, and warns that they will “
inevitably have a negative impact
” on Turkish-American relations.
SSB chairman Ismail Demir, himself targeted by sanctions along with three other agency executives, said on Twitter that the decision "will
in no way hamper the
Turkish defense
industry
".
He says he is "
determined to pursue the objective of a completely independent defense industry
", as desired by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The threat of US sanctions has hung over Turkey since it took delivery last year of
two S-400 batteries
, Russia's high-performance anti-missile and anti-aircraft defense system.
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To read also: S-400, the weapon of massive discord of Russian diplomacy
President Donald Trump had so far refrained from triggering sanctions in the name of his good relations with Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Last week, the latter estimated that Washington 's sanctions would show a "
lack of respect
" towards a "
very important ally within
NATO.
".
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