The Biden administration on Tuesday stopped short of threatening additional penalties following reports Turkey plans to receive the second batch of the Russian S-400 missile defense system.
Turkey initially purchased the S-400 in 2017, plunging its relationship with the U.S. into crisis. As a result of the deal, the Trump administration expelled Turkey from the F-35 program and later sanctioned the country’s defense industry organization and its leaders. The United States fears the powerful S-400 radar system would allow Russia to spy on the advanced F-35 fighter jet.
But the reaction in the U.S. on Tuesday was comparatively muted. At a press briefing, State Department spokesman Ned Price urged Turkey not to further engage with Russia’s defense sector.
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“The point that we have consistently made across the board is that Russia’s brutal and unjustified war against Ukraine makes it vital, now more than ever in some ways, that all countries avoid transactions with Russia’s defense sector,” he said.
“We’ll have to wait and see what happens, but we are not aware of any new developments on this matter,” Price added.
Price declined to address whether a new S-400 would prompt the Biden administration to reconsider plans to sell F-16 fighter jets to Turkey.
Read more: Military Times
