Turkish President, Tayyip Erdogan, expressed confidence that the purchase of the second regiment of S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems from Russia will happen, RIA Novosti reports.
“We have no doubts about the purchase of the second S-400 package in Russia. We are taking many steps with Russia, whether it is the S-400 or other topics in the defence industry. During the extinguishing of fires, we used Russian aircraft. In our last phone conversation, we discussed this topic. When I go to Russia, we will discuss all this again,” Erdogan said.
It is specified that Russia and Turkey signed a contract for a regimental set of S-400 in 2017, and the supply of air defence systems to the Turkish side was carried out in the summer-autumn of 2019, which provoked a crisis in Turkey’s relations with the United States. Washington demanded from Turkey to purchase American Patriot complexes in return, threatening to delay or even cancel the sale of the latest F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, as well as impose sanctions in accordance with CAATSA.
Despite the threats of America, Turkey is not going to abandon the agreements with Russia. Moreover, on August 25, the General Director of Rosoboronexport (a part of the Rostec State Corporation), Alexander Mikheev, said that the signing of an additional contract for the supply of S-400 systems to Turkey is expected before the end of the year, TASS reports.
Ru-Main, 30.08.2021
