Russia to start deliveries of S-400 defense systems to Turkey in July

The head of the Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport has announced his country will start delivering the S-400 to Turkey in July.

News agency Interfax quoted the head of the arms exporter, Alexander Mikheev, saying: “Everything has been already discussed and agreed,” Interfax quoted Mikheev as saying.

Russia and Turkey signed an S-400 air defense system purchase deal in 2017, which added on the ongoing disputes between Turkey and the United States, as the latter voiced serious concerns about the deal.

Officials from the US as well as some other NATO member countries that are part of the F-35 program has said Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400s can harm NATO’s interoperability and compromise the security of the F-35s.

They fear the Russian S-400 defense system radars will make the F-35s less able to evade Russian weapons in the future by learning how to locate and track the fighter jets.

The US government has threatened to kick its NATO ally out of the F-35 program if Turkey remains determined to buy a surface-to-air missile defense system from Russia.

Some US senators have spoken of imposing sanctions on Turkey under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which targets Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

In a bid to make Ankara cancel its S-400 purchase, the US halted the delivery of F-35 fighter jet equipment to Turkey more than two weeks ago.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dismissed the US ultimatum and said last month that disapproval of US to Turkey’s S-400 purchase plan has “nothing to do with either NATO and the F-35 nor the security of the US.”

He claimed Turkey’s pursuit of an independent policy in the region, notably in Syria, is the actual reason behind the US opposition.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar previously said Turkey missile system purchase should not trigger US sanctions because Ankara remains committed to the NATO alliance.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, also tried to reassure the US and some other NATO countries over security concerns by pointing out on Tuesday the S-400 defense systems would constitute no threat to NATO systems, as they would “not see them as the enemy.”

Turkey says purchase of Russian S-400 system should not trigger US sanctions

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from IPA NEWS https://ipa.news/2019/04/25/russia-to-start-deliveries-of-s-400-defense-systems-to-turkey-in-july/