Top US Senate Foreign Relations Democrat
warns $2.5 billion Turkey-Russia deal might violate new sanctions law that
Trump opposed.
By ANDREW
HANNA 9/15/17, 3:41 AM CET
Turkey’s recent purchase of an advanced Russian anti-air
weapons system may have violated a U.S. law that would require an automatic
imposition of sanctions on the NATO member, a top U.S. Democratic lawmaker said
Thursday.
The letter, sent by Maryland Senator Ben Cardin to Trump
administration officials, warns that Ankara’s purchase of Moscow’s S-400 air
defense system, finalized Tuesday, violates congressional sanctions against
Russia signed into law last month.
The legislation imposes sanctions “on any person that
conducts a significant transaction with the Russian Federation’s defense or
intelligence sectors,” wrote Cardin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee. The Trump White House resisted the sanctions as a
congressional intrusion on presidential diplomacy.
“These are mandatory sanctions and constitute a
commitment by the United States to deter Russia from attacking the United
States and its allies in the future,” said Cardin’s letter to Secretary of
State Rex Tillerson and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
“As a U.S. ally, it is unfortunate that Turkey has
appeared to align itself with Moscow during this critical time,” Cardin added.
The S-400 is Russia’s most advanced anti-air missile
system and was originally designed to intercept U.S. strategic aircraft. It has
a range of nearly 250 miles and can reportedly hit 80 targets at once.
Kremlin-funded media outlets like RT and Sputnik have
trumpeted the deal as a diplomatic coup. In recent months, Moscow has worked to
woo Turkey — a NATO member since 1952 — away from its Western military allies.
NATO officials have expressed unease about the $2.5
billion deal, both for its diplomatic implications and because of the
introduction of Russian technology into the military hardware of a member
state. No NATO country currently operates the system. An alliance spokesperson
said it had not been informed about the details of the purchase but emphasized
“It is up to allies to decide what military equipment they buy.”
In Ankara on Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan said NATO had only itself to blame because it has been slow to provide
his country with requisite weapons systems.
NATO “went crazy just because we made the S-400 deal,”
Erdoğan said, according to Turkish media. “What were we supposed to do? Wait
for you? We are taking care of ourselves.” The Turkish leader acknowledged a
deposit had been paid for the system, whose full price tag is $2.5 billion.
The State Department said the purchase would not meet
NATO standards of having interoperable equipment among allies but stopped short
of discussing potential repercussions.
On Tuesday, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert
called the purchase “inconsistent” with a 2016 agreement to phase out
Soviet-era military equipment among NATO allies.
The Pentagon also expressed concern over the purchase.
“We have relayed our concerns to Turkish officials
regarding the potential purchase of the S-400,” Pentagon spokesman Johnny
Michael said in a statement. “A NATO interoperable missile defense system
remains the best option to defend Turkey from the full range of threats in the
region.”
Cardin asked the administration to assess how the
purchase might affect Turkey’s NATO membership as well as U.S. security
assistance to Ankara, which includes arms sales. A freeze on U.S. weapons sale
to Turkey was a topic of discussion at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee
hearing last week.
Authors:
Andrew Hanna
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