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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave no indication on Monday that Ankara’s deal with Moscow for the S-400 missile system, which triggered unprecedented U.S. sanctions on the NATO ally, would be reversed.

Erdogan’s comments came on the heels of his first face-to-face bilateral meeting with President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the NATO leaders summit.

“It was a very fruitful and sincere meeting,” Erdogan told reporters at NATO’s headquarters, adding that the two allies would continue to negotiate on a range of issues.

Biden also said the meeting with Erdogan was productive, adding that he was confident the U.S. will “make real progress with Turkey.”

Under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, or CAATSA, any foreign government working with the Russian defense sector finds itself in the crosshairs of U.S. economic sanctions.

In December, the Trump administration slapped CAATSA sanctions on Turkey after the NATO ally purchased a multibillion-dollar Russian missile system. The S-400, a Russian mobile surface-to-air missile system, is said to pose a risk to the NATO alliance as well as the F-35, America’s most expensive weapons platform.

The move further stoked tensions between Washington and Ankara in the weeks ahead of Biden’s ascension to the White House.

National security advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters on Sunday that Biden and Erdogan would discuss “issues in our bilateral relationship,” without specifically naming the U.S. sanctions.

Sullivan also said the two are expected to consult on a range of regional security issues, spanning from Syria to Libya to the eastern Mediterranean. He added that Biden would also have the chance to consult with his Turkish counterpart on how to counter China and Russia.


When asked about the CAATSA sanctions imposed on Turkey, lawyers from Kirkland & Ellis described them as “calibrated” but also potentially challenging to lift.

“The sanctions that were implemented are a bit more targeted,” explained Sanjay Mullick, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis who specializes in the firm’s International Trade and National Security group.

“Here the focus was on licensing, technology, and not so much on prohibitions on any and all financial transaction. The takeaway is a bit more calibrated, although the sanctioning of a NATO ally is certainly meaningful,” he added.

“This is a step that is not typically seen in the relationship with such an allied partner, although in this case, perhaps prompted by Turkey’s engagement in activities which were contrary to prior U.S. foreign policy decisions such as those put in place against Russia in 2017,” Abigail Cotterill, counsel at Kirkland & Ellis’ International Trade and National Security Practice Group, told CNBC.

When asked about any potential for the Biden administration to lift sanctions, the lawyers explained that unilateral action taken by the president may be unlikely given the complexity of the matter.

“Typically yes, the president can do and undo, or at least work with Congress to do and undo. This one’s a bit more pointed situation where there may be less flexibility and less agility, requiring a combination of legal authority and of course political will,” Mullick explained.

“We might expect to see at least some coordination, even if not required between the executive branch and Congress,” Cotterill added.

“This really fits in the larger context of U.S.-Russia relations and in a way, the sanctions on Turkey, quote-unquote, were a derivative of the law, that put in place a mechanism for sanctioning anybody fill in the blank if they engaged in certain activities with certain sectors of Russian defense,” Mullick said.

“And so Turkey happened to walk itself into that knowingly, unknowingly, I think knowingly,” he added.

- A word from our sposor -

Erdogan sticks to his position on Russian missile deal after meeting with Biden