Turkey wants to reorder the Russian S-400 missile defence system, despite objections from NATO and the US, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has revealed.
According to Al Jazeera, Erdogan said that Turkey will make any decisions regarding its defence systems independently. He explained this during an interview with CBS News, pointing out that, “Turkey signed an agreement for American-made missile systems and the US has not delivered F-35 stealth jets despite receiving a payment of $1.4 billion.”
Russia and Turkey signed their first S-400 deal in 2017. This prompted Washington to impose sanctions on Ankara following claims that the Russian system would pose a risk to NATO as well as the F-35 fighters in Turkey. The Turkish military received the first shipment of the S-400 system in July 2019.
Last month, US President Joe Biden said that he was committed to maintaining sanctions on Turkey under the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) for buying the Russian S-400 system.