Ahead of upcoming talks ... Washington: Our position on Turkey's purchase of Russian S-400 missiles has not changed

On Wednesday, the US State Department announced upcoming talks between the US and Turkish foreign ministers, and renewed Turkey’s call to backtrack on the purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system, despite an initiative put forward by Ankara to avoid US sanctions.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is expected to speak with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, in the coming days.

In response to a question whether the United States is considering Turkey's recent proposal that it may not need to operate the Russian S-400 defense missile system continuously, Price said that Washington's policy in this regard has not changed.

Price added that the Russian "S-400" missiles are not compatible with NATO equipment, threaten NATO's technological security, and are not consistent with Turkey's commitments as a NATO ally.

"We continue to urge Turkey not to acquire this system," the State Department spokesman said.

This comes after Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said in an interview to the Turkish newspaper, Hurriyet, that his country would propose only partial activation of Russian missiles in negotiations with Washington, noting that European countries possessed Soviet-era weapons, after these countries were members of the Warsaw Pact.

"We are open to negotiating a model similar to that applied to the S-300s (S-300) missiles located on the island of Crete in Greece," Akar added.

A US State Department official responded to Akar’s statements in an interview with Al-Jazeera yesterday that Washington’s position has not changed, reiterating that the Russian defense system is not compatible with NATO equipment and is inconsistent with Turkey’s obligations as an ally.

In the face of strong protests from Turkey, Cyprus in 1999 withdrew from the deployment of the S-300 missiles it had bought from Russia and placed on the island of Crete in agreement with Athens, and then Greece became the owner of these missiles even though it is also a member of NATO, but US officials consider the S-missiles. 400 more advanced.

Last year, Washington imposed sanctions on Ankara because of these Russian missiles, and was reflected in the ban on granting any permits to export weapons to the Turkish government agency charged with purchasing military equipment.

And the new US President Joe Biden had previously pledged, before his election, to adopt a more hard-line approach towards Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.