French President Emmanuel Macron has questioned the legitimacy of Turkey's purchase of Russian-made S-400s claiming that Ankara, as a NATO member, technically cannot acquire the air defence systems.
Speaking in London where a NATO summit is currently underway, Macron said that stability in Europe depends on a dialogue with Moscow, adding that the status quo is not the best solution in the current state of affairs.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump, sitting alongside French President, said he was looking at imposing sanctions on Turkey over its purchase of a Russian missile system, blaming his predecessor for not selling Ankara a US missile system.
"We are looking at it now, and we're talking about it now," he told journalists. "As you know Turkey wanted to buy our Patriot system and the (former US President Barack) Obama administration wouldn't let them, and they only let them when they were ready to buy another system."
Spat Over S-400
The United States has repeatedly objected to Ankara’s purchase of the Russian-made defence system, saying that the weapons system is incompatible with NATO security standards. Ankara insists that the S-400 systems would not pose a threat from the alliance and resisted US pressure to cancel orders.
Russia and Turkey initially signed a $2.5 billion deal for the delivery of four S-400 batteries in December 2017. An agreement for a second regiment of S-400 missile systems is expected to be signed in 2020.