Media: deliveries of S-400 to Turkey are delayed due to the ban on their sale to third countries

Deliveries of the second batch of Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems to Turkey are delayed because Ankara does not agree with the clause in the agreement banning the re-export of weapons to third countries. About it writes newspaper AydInlIk.

According to the publication, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar asked the Russian side to abandon this clause in the agreement, which, according to the newspaper, is included in almost all contracts for the supply of weapons. For example, Turkey, the newspaper recalls, was unable to supply its helicopters with American engines to Pakistan and the Philippines, because it did not receive permission from the United States.

At the same time, on March 14, the head of one of the Turkish defense enterprises Aselsan, Haluk Gergun, said that the country no longer needs the S-300 or S-400, since the production of its own Siper air defense systems has already been developed. But their effective range, according to the results of training firing, was only 100 km, while the range of the S-400 reaches 400 km, Aydınlık notes.

In February, the director of the fourth European department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Yuri Pilipson, said that the Russian Federation does not see unsolvable tasks in the implementation of the contract for the supply of Turkey with the second S-400 regiment.

On September 25, 2021, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in an interview with the American CBS television channel, confirmed Ankara’s intention to acquire a second regiment of S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems from Moscow. As RIA Novosti noted, last year the director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSVTS) of Russia, Dmitry Shugaev, announced the signing of the corresponding contract.

A framework contract for the supply of four divisions of the S-400 system to Turkey worth about $2.5 billion was concluded in 2017, and the first two systems were delivered in 2019. Since then, negotiations have continued between Turkey and Russia on the order and delivery of the remaining two systems. The decision of the Turkish side caused criticism and pressure from the United States.