WASHINGTON, 29 April, 2021 (TON): On Wednesday, the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Turkey and all U.S. allies to refrain from making further purchases of Russian weaponry.

The U.S.-Turkey row starts from various issues, including Turkey’s purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems that was the target of U.S. sanctions, policy differences over Syria, human rights and a U.S. court case targeting Turkey’s Halkbank.

Blinken said at a virtual event, “It’s also very important going forward that Turkey, and for that matter all US allies and partners, avoid future purchases of Russian weaponry, including additional S-400s.”

While referring to the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act, he said, “Any significant transactions with Russian defense entities, again, could be subject to the law, to CAATSA, and that’s separate from and in addition to the sanctions that have already been imposed.”

However, he highlighted CAATSA is designed to dissuade countries from buying military equipment from the NATO foe.