S-400 missile system deliveries to Turkey discussed at Putin-Erdogan meeting

SOCHI, May 3. /TASS/. The deliveries of Russia’s advanced S-400 surface-to-air missile systems to Turkey were discussed at a meeting of Russian and Turkish Presidents Vladimir Putin and Tayyip Erdogan, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. "This theme was touched upon, like other issues related to military and technical cooperation," Peskov said. "Military and technical cooperation was discussed in a positive tone," the Kremlin spokesman said. Russia and Turkey have been negotiating the deliveries of S-400 air defense missile systems since last year’s winter but both sides have not announced anything specific so far. They have only stated that the talks are proceeding positively and have entered their final phase but have not yet reached the stage of signing a contract. In late April, Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik said that "a joint decision on forthcoming steps towards the acquisition of the Russian antiaircraft missile system" might be made following the negotiations between Putin and Erdogan. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov only confirmed to TASS that the theme of S-400 deliveries might be discussed at both leaders’ meeting in Sochi. According to the data of some sources, with whom TASS had talked, there are certain problems in the deliveries of S-400 air defense missile systems to Turkey. Turkey wants to get the most advantageous terms both for the price and the transfer of some technologies and the joint production of some S-400 components. Russia, however, wants only to sell the air defense missile systems without burdening the contract with additional terms. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu earlier said that Turkey and Russia had reached an agreement in principle on the delivery of Russian-made S-400 long-range surface-to-air missile systems to the Turkish side and were negotiating the price and joint production issues. Turkey will purchase Russia’s antiaircraft missile systems as it "needs to strengthen its air defense capabilities," the minister said. Speaking about the options of purchasing air defense missile systems from NATO countries, Cavusoglu said that Turkey "would like to buy them from NATO but they [the alliance’s countries] have not demonstrated movement in this direction." The S-400 Triumf is the most advanced long-range antiaircraft missile system that went into service in Russia in 2007. It is designed to destroy aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, including medium-range missiles, and can also be used against ground objectives. The S-400 can engage targets at a distance of 400 km and at an altitude of up to 30 km. Read more