Trump announces lifting of sanctions on Turkey over purchase of Russian S-400s, which he himself imposed

Donald Trump, President of the United States, has announced the lifting of sanctions on Turkey over its purchase of Russian S-400 missile systems, sanctions he himself imposed in 2020.

“We’re going to be terminating sanctions. It’s time to do it… We don’t want to sanction friends. It’s very simple. There are a lot of people we can sanction, and we get sanctioned. We don’t want to sanction friends,” Trump said during a meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey, in Ankara.

As a reminder, these sanctions included, among other things, Turkey’s exclusion from the F-35 fighter jet development program. Turkey has already agreed to receive its first five aircraft.