Russia, Turkey Maintain Contacts on S-400 Missile Systems Issue

ISTANBUL, July 24. /TASS/. Moscow and Ankara maintain contacts on the issue of the S-400 missile systems Turkey has bought from Russia, Russian Ambassador to Turkey Sergey Vershinin said. "This is a very sensitive issue, a matter of military technical cooperation. The Russian always responds with understanding to the requests from our partners, including Turkey. <…> We are in contact regarding this matter, and these discussions continue. All these issues are being discussed at the expert level in accordance with the contracts signed between Russia and Turkey," he said in an interview with the Haberturk television channel. Turkey’s pro-government newspaper Hurriyet reported earlier that, according to its information, the S-400s were resold to a Persian Gulf country. The United Arab Emirates and Qatar were mentioned as the most likely buyers. Another Turkish newspaper, Turkiye, said, citing Defense Minister Yasar Guler, that Ankara continues talks with third countries on the issue of re-exporting these systems. Turkey purchased four S-400 anti-aircraft missile battalions from Russia in 2017 under a $2.5 billion contract. In October 2019, Russia’s arms exporter Rosoboronexport (part of the state tech corporation Rostec) announced that the contract for the systems had been fulfilled. Following the signing of the contract between Turkey and Russia for the supply of a regimental set of S-400 systems, Ankara was excluded from the US program to develop the next-generation F-35 fighter jet.