Turkey receives first shipment of Russian S-400 missiles, U.S. warns of economic sanctions
The Ministry of National Defence in Republic of Turkey has confirmed receiving the first installment of Russian S-400 missile defence system for U.S. $ 2.5 billion, at its airbase in the capital city of Ankara.
The Ministry of Defence of Turkey has issued a media statement which read, “The delivery of parts belonging to the system will continue in the coming days. Once the system is completely ready, it will begin to be used in a way determined by the relevant authorities.”
The move has not gone down well with the United States (U.S.) and the latter has warned Turkey that they cannot have both U.S. F-35 Fighter Jets and Russia’s S-400 Missiles. For the records, Turkey has signed an agreement with U.S. for buying 100 U.S. F-35 warplanes. Both U.S. and Turkey are North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members.
Speaking on the occasion, a NATO official said, “It is up to allies to decide what military equipment they buy. However, we are concerned about the potential consequences of Turkey’s decision to acquire the S-400 system.”
The U.S. firmly believes that S-400 is incompatible with the wider NATO air defence as the presence of S-400 missiles near U.S. F-35 fighter jets will make the Russians aware of the vulnerabilities of U.S.’s F-35 fighter jets. Reacting to U.S.’s concern, Turkey has confirmed that Russian and U.S. defence systems will be located at different locations.
In the meantime, Turkey ha sent its armed forces to Russia for getting trained for using S-400 missiles.
The Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense – Mark Esper had a 30 minutes discussion with the Defence Minister of Turkey – Hulusi Akar. Post discussion, Akar said that Turkey is not going to change its decision of purchasing S-400 missiles from Russia.
The U.S. has also put the deliveries of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey on hold and has also suspended the training to Turkish armed forces. Besides, U.S. is also planning to scrap the entire deal.
The U.S. has warned Turkey of economic sanctions under Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, if it still goes ahead with honouring of the Russian deal. The sanctions would add to the woes of Turkish economy which is already struggling to cope up with the decision of President of Turley – Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of sacking the Governor of Turkish Central Bank.
Earlier in 2018, U.S. had imposed sanctions on Turkey over the detention of an American pastor. The sanctions were later lifted upon the release of pastor.
