Turkey on Monday condemned U.S. sanctions over its purchase of Russian S-400 missile defenses as a "grave mistake" and threatened to retaliate over a move it said would harm ties between the NATO allies.
Washington imposed the long-anticipated sanctions on Turkey's top defense procurement and development body, its chairman and three other employees. Analysts said the targeted move would mostly spare the broader Turkish economy.
Turkey's Foreign Ministry called the decision "inexplicable" given that Washington repeatedly rejected Ankara's offer to form a joint working group to allay U.S. concerns that the S-400s threatened NATO defenses.