The Trump administration on Monday announced sanctions against Turkey, a key NATO ally, over its July 2019 purchase of Russia's S-400 surface-to-air defence missile system – a long-awaited move that comes just weeks before President Donald Trump leaves office.
The sanctions include a ban on U.S. military export licenses and loans to Turkey and an asset freeze on the agency's president, Ismail Demir, among other government officials.
"Today's action sends a clear signal that the United States will fully implement CAATSA Section 231 and will not tolerate significant transactions with Russia's defense and intelligence sectors," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.
In 2019, the US removed Turkey from its F-35 fighter jets programme, saying "F-35 cannot coexist with a Russian intelligence collection machine" but had held off on imposing sanctions due to President Donald Trump’s personal relationship with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Imposing sanction just before his departure, President Trump leaves a potential dilemma for the incoming Biden administration. Perhaps, he moved to preempt the House of Representatives version of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act becoming law that would force him to issue CAATSA sanctions against Turkey.
Turkey
Turkey condemned the "unilateral" sanctions, vowing retaliation for the "unfair" move.
"U.S. allegations that S-400 systems will jeopardize NATO systems are devoid of any technical merit," Turkey's foreign ministry said in a statement.
"We urge the U.S. to reconsider this unfair decision as announced today and to rectify this grave mistake as soon as possible, while emphasizing once again that Turkey stands ready to address this issue through dialogue and diplomacy in conformity with the spirit of alliance."
Turkey insists it was forced to buy the Russian system because the US refused to sell it American-made Patriot missile shield system and its technology - a reason Trump appeared to have accepted as reasonable by blaming Obama on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan.
The Turkish government has also pointed to what it considers a double standard since other NATO members including Greece uses a previous-generation Russian-made missile system S-300.
Russia
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov condemned the new US sanctions as "illegitimate" and "arrogant".
"This is, of course, another manifestation of an arrogant attitude towards international law, a manifestation of illegitimate, unilateral coercive measures that the United States has been resorting to for many years - already decades - left and right," Lavrov said.
"This does not add to the credibility of the United States in the international arena as a responsible player," Lavrov added.
