U.S. sanctions NATO ally Turkey over its purchase of Russian missile defense system

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration announced Monday that it was imposing sanctions on NATO-ally Turkey’s military procurement agency as punishment for its purchase of a Russian-made missile defense system.

The sanctions were mandated under a 2017 law requiring them against any country that purchases “significant” material from Russia’s defense industry.

The announcement came after Congress last week overwhelmingly passed the defense funding bill, which includes a provision ordering that the sanctions be imposed within 30 days.

The sanctions, although fewer than what the law allows, include a ban on all U.S. export licenses and authorizations to Turkey’s Presidency of Defense Industries, and assets freezes and visa restrictions against the organization’s president and three other senior officials.

Lawmakers of both parties had criticized the administration for failing to implement the sanctions following Turkey’s $2.5 billion purchase of the system in 2019, inaction which some charged was due to President Donald Trump’s close relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In a statement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that “the United States made clear to Turkey at the highest levels and on numerous occasions that its purchase of the S-400 system would endanger the security of U.S. military technology and personnel and provide substantial funds to Russia’s defense sector.”

Last year, the White House removed Turkey from the F-35 joint strike fighter program over concerns that Ankara’s decision to enter a missile defense relationship with Moscow would compromise the security of the program’s sensitive cutting-edge technology.

Erdogan’s government has maintained that offers to sell Turkey the U.S. Patriot missile defense system were unacceptable in terms of timing and price, and a U.S. refusal to include technology transfers.

NATO has also objected to the Russian sale. In his statement, Pompeo urged Turkey “to resolve the S-400 problem immediately in coordination with the United States.”

Turkey, he said, remains “a valued ally and an important regional security partner for the United States.”