MOSCOW, May 19Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is «blackmailing» NATO to lift sanctions for the purchase of Russian S-400s in exchange for a change of position on the membership of Finland and Sweden in the alliance, Ukrainian observer Yuriy Panchenko wrote in an article for the European Pravda online publication. The publicist recalled, that in 2019 Ankara bought four air defense systems from Moscow, paying $2.5 billion for them. In response, the United States introduced restrictive measures against Turkey.
"So what, then, is the main goal of Erdogan's blackmail? It seems that Turkey's key demand is addressed specifically to the United States and concerns the issue of arms sales", Panchenko concluded.
The author of the article compared Turkey's position with the demarche of Hungary, which threatens to veto the sixth package of restrictive measures against Russia, primarily the oil embargo. The State Duma suggested that Turkey think about cooperation with the CSTO «Ankara is also trying to capitalize on sanctions, planning to increase the flow of Russian tourists,» he concluded. Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara cannot support the inclusion of Sweden and Finland in the military bloc, since in this case, the organization will become «a place where there will be many representatives of terrorists.» He recalled that Ankara demanded from Stockholm and Helsinki to extradite 33 representatives of the Kurdistan Workers' Party and FETO, but was refused. According to Bloomberg, citing sources, Turkey demands that Sweden and Finland be returned to the program for the supply of newest F-35 fighter jets, as well as to lift US sanctions for the purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems. 05/db7b515a631a6455c80c235ff4e28707.jpg» /> In Turkey, they said that the United States is preparing Russia with the help of NATO expansion