Ankara is considering the purchase of Russian s-400
WASHINGTON, April 14 — RIA Novosti, Dmitry Zlatarev. Ankara did not receive support from NATO in the procurement of air defense systems in terms of competitive prices, so as an alternative considers the Russian anti-aircraft missile systems (WRU) s-400, said the Minister of defence of Turkey Fikri Işık.
Speaking at the Washington-based Fund SET to study American-Turkish relations during his visit to the US, Işık expressed regret that Turkey “failed to get support in this issue (the supply of air defense systems) of NATO partners”. “I’m talking about competitive prices, exchange technologies. Therefore, we study the alternatives, and one of them is the Russian s-400” — said the Turkish Minister.
Earlier, representatives of the Russian and Turkish authorities have repeatedly stated about the ongoing Moscow and Ankara negotiations on the supply of s-400. According to the head of Rostec Sergey Chemezov, Turkey is ready to buy the s-400 in the case of granting Russia a loan, the negotiations which are currently underway with the Russian Ministry of Finance.
As stated by the Russian presidential aide on military technical cooperation Vladimir Kozhin, Russia sees no obstacles for the delivery of anti-aircraft missile systems s-400 to Turkey in connection with its membership in NATO.