Russia, Turkey to sign new deal on S-400 delivery soon

Russia and Turkey are close to signing a new contract to supply Ankara with additional S-400 air defense units in the near future, TASS cited the head of Russia's Rosoboronexport arms exporter as saying on Aug. 23.

Monday August 23 2021 02:06 pm

Duvar English

A new contract with Turkey on the delivery of Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems may be signed soon, Rosoboronexport CEO Alexander Mikheyev said on Aug. 23.

"The consultations continue and are at the final stage. We will start formalizing a contract with our partners soon," TASS cited Mikheyev as saying.

Certain successes were achieved at the IDEF 2021 international defense industry show held in Turkey in August, he said.

"The exhibition was a success and our delegation brought back a fairly good program of requests," the CEO noted.

Moscow and Ankara inked a deal in 2017 on the delivery of the S-400 air defense system to Turkey, thereby making it the first NATO member to purchase this air defense missile system from Russia.

Ankara's purchase of the S-400s has strained ties with the United States and NATO allies over concerns that the systems are not compatible with the alliance's defenses and may threaten the U.S. F-35 fighter jets. Turkey, which was expelled from the jet program over the Russian systems, rejects the concerns.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in June said that he had told U.S. President Joe Biden at their first meeting that Turkey would not change its stance on its S-400s.

In response, a senior U.S. diplomat in July said that Biden is committed to maintaining sanctions on Turkey under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) for buying the systems and would impose further sanctions if Ankara bought additional major arms systems from Moscow.