WASHINGTON, April 3. /TASS/. The United States would like Turkey to remain a NATO member but without Russian-made S-400 air defense systems on its territory, the US envoy to NATO has told foreign journalists.

During a briefing ahead of the April 3-4 meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Washington, US Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison, evaded a direct answer to a question whether Turkey will be excluded from NATO if it buys Russian-made missile systems.

"Turkey is a very important ally. They are an ally. They are also carrying a heavy load in our NATO missions. They too are a framework nation in Afghanistan, and they are participating in all of our missions and they have since the beginning of NATO. So we want Turkey to stay in the alliance. We want them not to have a Russian missile defense system in the middle of their country that cannot be interoperable with NATO," she said.

"The United States is very concerned about Turkey having our F-35s in proximity to an S-400 Russian system because there could be a transfer of information, communications, or even an interruption of that," the US diplomat added.

Meanwhile, Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, NATO Supreme Allied Commander and the head of US European Command, urged Turkey to change its mind on the deal with Moscow, ABC News said.

"Although they've said, even [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan has said, that the S-400 is a done deal, I don't personally think it's a done deal yet," he was quoted as saying.

The official added that Ankara’s planned purchase of Russian-made systems goes beyond the framework of US-Turkish relations. According to Scaparrotti, "that S-400 will be in the midst of a NATO-integrated air missile defense system as well."

He believes that operating a Russian-made system in such close proximity to US-made F-35 stealth multirole fighter jets provides a great opportunity to analyze those aircraft and their capabilities.

"I'm not suggesting that Turkey can't be trusted, but I am saying that you take another risk with your system with what is probably our most sensitive technology," he said.

The news about the Russian-Turkish talks on the purchase of S-400 systems first came in November 2016. The Russian side confirmed that the contract had been signed on September 12, 2017. Concurrently, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Ankara had made an advance payment. Turkey is going to become the first NATO member state to purchase an air defense weapon of this class from Russia.

US Assistant Secretary of State Wess Mitchell stated in June of last year that Turkey’s contract to purchase S-400 missile systems from Russia would severely damage bilateral relations and lead to unilateral US sanctions against Ankara.

Last week, Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan stated that the US government wants Turkey to remain in the F-35 fighter jet program, however, in order to do that, it needs to drop the purchase of Russia’s S-400 missile defense systems. Shanahan added that Washington is trying to convince Ankara to buy US Patriot systems instead of the Russian-made ones.

The S-400 Triumf is the most advanced long-range air defense missile system that went into service in Russia in 2007. It is designed to destroy aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, including medium-range missiles, and can also be used against ground installations.

The S-400 can engage targets at a distance of 400 km and at an altitude of up to 30 km.