U.S. Senator Jim Risch, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN in an interview that time is up for Turkey to address its purchase of S-400 missile defence systems from Russia and that he will press forward with sanctions.
Risch plans to mark up a bipartisan sanctions bill against Turkey next week and will press Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring it to the floor, CNN reported.
The Republican Senator for Idaho had allowed time for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to make a deal with Ankara over the S-400s, which NATO officials say could leave the alliance vulnerable to Russian subterfuge.
But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has made no signs that he is willing to compromise, and Turkey defied U.S. warnings by activating the missile defence systems to test them, likely targeting F-16 fighter jets over the capital city of Ankara.
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