Lavrov warns US against pressuring Turkey over S-400s

Citing Turkey’s wish to buy Russian missile defense, Russia’s foreign minister on Monday criticized the US for trying to pressure countries which want to buy Russian weapons.

Growing centers of influence will not bow to “ultimatums and threats” when deciding what and where to buy, Sergey Lavrov Lavrov said in a speech to a youth forum.

Countries “will not agree to subjecting their right to trade with whom they want and what they want to ultimatums and threats, as is now the case with contracts for the supply of Russian weapons to a number of states, for example, Turkey, Indonesia and India, when Washington openly requires refusal of these contracts,” he said.

READ: Turkey PM criticises US bill to block sale of F-35 jets

Lavrov also warned that such US demands would create “unpredictability, and an additional potential for conflict.”

On 18 June, the US Congress passed legislation to ban the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, despite a signed contract between the two countries.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan later said US President Trump had assured him that the sale was not in question, despite the congressional effort.