The United States is aware about Russia's increasing presence in Syria, but is more concerned about Moscow's expansion into Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said in a congressional hearing on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th December, 2019) The United States is aware about Russia's increasing presence in Syria, but is more concerned about Moscow's expansion into Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said in a congressional hearing on Wednesday."I'm more concerned about Russian expansion into Egypt, into Saudi Arabia, other places," Esper told the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee. "The bigger issue with Russia was the nexus with... Turkey. That's what really concerns me."
In recent months, Russian military police routinely patrols together with Turkish forces in the Syrian-Turkish border area to prevent the resumption of hostilities. The development came after US troops withdrew from the area in the face of the Turkish operation against Kurdish militias allied to the United States.
Esper explained his biggest concern includes close Turkey-Russia relations and that Turkey potentially moving out of the NATO orbit.
"Our challenge is to figure out how we can get them back closer into the NATO alliance... They are critical and long-standing nearly 70-year partners of ours," Esper said.
The defense secretary noted that the US-Russia competition has gone "all around the globe," and the principle means of countering Russia is through NATO.
"We've seen a lot of good success there," said.
During Esper's testimony, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced legislation that includes a provision to sanction Turkey for purchasing Russian S-400 air defense systems.
Later on Wednesday, the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the National Defense Authorization Act, which also includes Turkey sanctions measure.
