Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said there were no problems in the process of purchasing Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems.
«At the first stage there will be no joint production, at the second stage we will take steps towards this. I do not think that we will finish negotiations with esteemed Putin on the S-400, we will also talk about the S-500. Patriot is already out of circulation in the world.» — Turkish TV channel Haberturk and Russian news agency RIA Novosti are citing Erdogan’s statement.
Recall that at the beginning of this week, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Ankara could refuse to buy the S-400 air defense system from Moscow, if an agreement on their joint production is not reached. «We have not received any official refusal on this topic. Putin himself told us that we can take steps for joint production. Therefore, technologies will be relevant. But if Russia is negative about this, then we can conclude an agreement with another country,» he quoted TASS News Agency Minister Cavusoglu said in an interview with Akşam newspaper. At the same time, Mevlut Cavusoglu stressed that Ankara needs an urgent purchase of the S-400.
The press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov told reporters on the same day that «contacts and negotiations at the expert level in the context of this deal are continuing.»
On September 29, Vladimir Kozhin, aide to the President of the Russian Federation for military-technical cooperation, told reporters that Russia had received an advance from Turkey for the S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems. Kozhin did not name the delivery time, noting that Ankara wants to receive the S-400 air defense system by 2019, but this issue is still being discussed.
On September 12, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters that Ankara had made the first installment for Russian C-400 anti-aircraft missile systems. Then the information about the signing of the agreement in an interview with TASS was confirmed by Vladimir Kozhin. «The contract has been signed and is being prepared for implementation. You know, the S-400 is one of the most complex systems, consisting of a whole set of technical means, so there are many nuances here.
I can only guarantee that all decisions made on this contract are strictly in line with our strategic interests. In this regard, we are quite understandable the reaction of some Western countries that are trying to put pressure on Turkey, «the agency quoted Kozhin’s statement. He also noted that there is a queue for these systems: «These are the countries of Southeast Asia, The Middle East and some member states of the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization). There are a large number of applications, a number of countries are showing a substantive interest in this system. «However, Kozhin noted, this is a very expensive technique, so not everyone can afford to buy it.» The contracts available now for these systems have fully loaded the enterprises that produce them, » he added.
On April 28 this year, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview with the Haberturk newspaper that Moscow and Ankara had reached an agreement in principle on the supply of Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems. At the same time, negotiations began on the price and terms of payment. Cavusoglu noted in the spring that the decision to purchase the S-400 was made after NATO partners refused to supply Turkey with modern missile defense systems.
The issue of the supply of S-400 air defense systems to Turkey was also discussed on May 3 at a meeting between Erdogan and Putin in Sochi, and later.
The Turkish-Russian negotiations on the supply of the S-400 air defense system have been known since November 2016. Then the fact that such negotiations are underway, said the Minister of Defense of Turkey Fikri Isik, who expressed the hope that, thanks to the multilateral negotiations conducted by Turkey, «NATO countries will show a more serious initiative, and Turkey will have a system that meets the requirements of the alliance,» says in the message. At the same time, the head of the Turkish Defense Ministry stressed that Ankara would not neglect the proposals of Russia and seeks to establish its own production of such systems.
Currently, the S-400 air defense system ensures the security of the airfield at the Khmeimim base in Syria, where Russian combat aircraft are stationed, as well as in the airspace over the rest of western Syria. During the conflict between Moscow and Ankara, the Russian military and politicians stated that this system could be used, among other things, to destroy Turkish military aircraft. The Russian Defense Ministry said it did not intend to leave these systems in Syria after the completion of the operation against the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra groups.
In August 2016, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehgan stated that Moscow had offered Tehran to acquire the S-400 air defense system. But later he issued a statement that Iran did not plan to buy these complexes.
In the fall of 2017, in Moscow, during summit meetings, the issue of possible supplies of S-400s to Saudi Arabia was discussed.
The deliveries of the S-400 air defense system to the Middle East are of serious concern in Israel and the United States.
The Russian S-400 Triumph air defense system entered service in 2007. It is designed to destroy both aircraft and enemy missiles. The range of the air defense missile system is about 400 kilometers. So far, this system is in service only with the Russian army.
The S-500 «Prometheus» air defense system, about which the Russian state media write a lot, is still at the testing stage. The command of the Russian army has announced since the spring of 2017 that these complexes will soon be put into service.
