Economics
Russian Missile System Stymies U.S. Efforts to Mend Ties With Turkey
- Turkish President Erdogan has vowed to buy S-400 system
- Deployment of system would prompt fresh U.S. sanctions
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Trump administration officials seeking to mend ties with Turkey are finding that a key point of disagreement is barreling toward a crisis: Turkey’s move to buy an advanced Russian anti-aircraft missile system.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision to purchase the S-400 Triumph, announced in 2017, was initially interpreted as a way to gain leverage over the U.S. and the NATO alliance. But the Trump administration has since concluded that Erdogan was serious, and the U.S. is now trying to avoid a more damaging rupture in the relationship, according to outside experts and people familiar with top U.S. officials’ thinking.