The US State Department says the new administration has imposed sanctions on Turkey’s chief defense minister over ties to the Russian Defense Ministry and military.
The new US administration has imposed sanctions on Turkish Defense Industry Director Ismail Demir and four other officials over links to the Russian Defense Ministry and the Russian military.
The State Department said in a statement that Turkish defense industry officials had been sanctioned under the Katsa law for their links to Russia’s military and intelligence services.
According to the statement, the official document of the embargo is scheduled to be released on Tuesday.
According to Sputnik, the statement said: “Secretary of State (Anthony Blinken) has imposed certain sanctions on Katsa to apply to the Turkish defense industry, headed by Ismail Demir, Deputy Foreign Minister Faruk Egit, Head of the Department of Air and Space Defense, Serhat Ganjo Ghlu, and Alper Deniz, Director of Planning, Defense Systems. ».
According to the report, Blinken claims that the Turkish defense industry “knowingly had significant interactions with or on behalf of individuals who are members of, or on behalf of, the Russian government’s military and intelligence services.”
In December, the United States added Turkish and Demir defense industries to its sanctions list over Ankara’s move to buy the S-400. Washington has claimed that Ankara has been sanctioned under a so-called Katsa law for knowingly cooperating with and buying the system from Russian arms company Rosburno Export.
A few weeks ago, US Ambassador to Ankara David Sutherfield warned of the serious consequences of activating the Russian missile defense system for Ankara, saying that the only solution to the crisis with Washington was to abandon the system.