Pompeo Urges Turkey Not to Make Russian S-400 ‘Operational’
Pompeo Urges Turkey Not to Make Russian S-400 ‘Operational’
(Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Michael Pompeo urged Turkey not to make the S-400 missile defense system it purchased from Russia “operational” as President Donald Trump holds off on implementing new sanctions required by law.
“There could be more sanctions to follow but frankly what we’d really like is for the S-400 not to become operational,” Pompeo said Thursday in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
Pompeo has to contend with a rift between Trump and U.S. lawmakers on the best way to respond to Turkey’s decision to buy the Russian system. The U.S. has long said Turkey’s move is incompatible with its role in both NATO and the F-35 jet program, though Trump has also signaled he’s reluctant to put more sanctions on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government.
Pompeo’s focus on Turkey not making the Russian system “operational” appears to signal a step back from the previous U.S. focus on Ankara not accepting components of the missile defense system and may be an attempt at forging a compromise. Turkey has not yet received the actual missiles for the system.
Nevertheless, last month the U.S. said it is suspending Turkey from a joint-production agreement to buy and help build the Lockheed Martin Corp. F-35. Turkey was expected to purchase more than 100 of the stealthy next-generation fighters.
Pompeo declined to comment on a report earlier by Defense One that Republican Senator Lindsey Graham -- a close ally of Trump -- called Turkey’s foreign minister to discuss the issue. Graham said he asked Turkey not to activate the S-400 in exchange for avoiding U.S. sanctions and winning a possible free trade deal, according to the report.
Trump says former President Barack Obama left Turkey no choice but to buy the Russian system because the U.S. never made a good enough offer to sell an American-made system instead.
In fact, the U.S. has sought to sell Ankara the Patriot air-defense missile since at least 2013, but Erdogan insisted that it come with a transfer of technology so that Turkey could develop and build its own missiles. The Obama administration declined.
Several members of Congress have threatened to pass new sanctions legislation punishing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally if Trump fails to impose the sanctions.
To contact the reporters on this story: Kevin Cirilli in Washington at kcirilli@bloomberg.net;Nick Wadhams in Washington at nwadhams@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert, Justin Blum
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