U.S. Senate foreign relations chairman wants to hold off on Turkey sanctions bills

The Republican chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said on Thursday he did not want lawmakers to pass legislation imposing sanctions on Turkey for now, to lessen friction during talks over Turkey’s purchase of a Russian missile defense system.

“Probably it’s best we don’t pass a sanctions bill at this moment,” Senator Jim Risch said during a meeting with reporters in his office.

Risch was among a group of Republican senators President Donald Trump called to the White House on Wednesday for a meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in which Trump urged Erdogan to abandon the Russian S-400 systems that began arriving in Turkey in July, despite threats of sanctions from Washington.