China News Agency, Washington, December 14 (Reporter Sha Hanting) The US government announced sanctions against Turkey on the 14th local time on the grounds that Turkey purchased the Russian-made S-400 air defense system.
US Secretary of State Pompeo issued a statement on the same day that the United States imposed sanctions on the Turkish Defense Industry Agency responsible for the procurement of the S-400 system, its director Ismail Demir, and three other senior officials.
Specific measures include prohibiting the issuance of export licenses and authorizations for U.S. products and technologies to the Turkish National Defense Industry Agency; assets of sanctioned persons in the United States or under the control of the United States will be frozen, and they will not be allowed to enter the United States.
The statement stated that the sanctions indicate that the United States does not allow other countries to conduct large-scale transactions with Russian defense and intelligence agencies.
Regarding the U.S. sanctions, the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning it, saying that U.S. measures will have a negative impact on Turkish-U.S. relations, and Turkey will adopt reciprocal sanctions.
Turkey signed a contract with Russia in 2017 to purchase the S-400 air defense missile system.
The United States and other NATO countries have repeatedly warned Turkey not to purchase this Russian-made system.
Russia began to deliver the S-400 system to Turkey in July 2019.
Turkish President Erdogan confirmed in October this year that the Turkish side has tested the S-400 system and said that the test will continue and that the Turkish side will not seek permission from the US for this.
The United States and Turkey have recently diverged on issues such as Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Analysts believe that the US sanctions on Turkey will further strain the relationship between the two NATO allies.
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