US Senate Wants Turkey to Cut Off Ties With Russia in Order to Buy F-16 Jets, Reports Say

ATHENS (Sputnik) - The chairman of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Robert Menendez, listed conditions under which he could remove his objections to the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, which include the abandonment by Ankara of Russia's S-400 air defense systems, and cutting off its close relations with Moscow, the AMNA reported.

The senator told the Greek news agency that the United States would sell military equipment to those who share its values, "not just for financial gain," and listed a number of problems on which Ankara should change its behavior and attitude. Among them are the issue of acquiring the Russia's S-400 system, flights over the Greek islands, Turkey's close relations with Russia, and human rights violations, including the imprisonment of journalists and lawyers.

Menendez added that the list of outstanding issues is long, and they must be resolved in order to achieve the sale and modernization of the F-16 jets, but he had not yet seen the readiness of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to take any of these steps, the news agency reported.

Menendez is considered a person who "holds the keys to the F-16," since he has the power to veto the sale of the US weapons systems as the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, the agency said.

Turkey plans to purchase 40 F-16 fighter jets from the US, and modernize another 80 which it already has in service. US President Joe Biden said that he expects to obtain a congressional approval for the sale of the jets to Turkey, but a group of the US congressmen signed a statement objecting to the sale.