U.S. Vice President Mike Pence warned Turkey against buying a Russian S-400 anti-missile system, keeping up the pressure on its NATO ally to abandon the purchase that Washington considers a threat to U.S. military equipment.
“Turkey must choose. Does it want to remain a critical partner in the most successful military alliance in history or does it want to risk the security of that partnership by making such reckless decisions that undermine our alliance?” the U.S. Vice President said in remarks at a NATO event in Washington.
“We’ve also made it clear that we will not stand idly by while NATO allies purchase weapons from our adversaries that threaten the cohesion of our alliance,” Reuters cited Pence as saying.
Washington has warned that proceeding with the deal could result in U.S. sanctions and the exclusion of Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet program. The United States this week halted delivery of equipment related to the stealthy F-35 fighter aircraft to Turkey.
