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Turkey has no intention of letting US examine S-400 systems, says source

Earlier, a source at Turkey’s Foreign Ministry told TASS Ankara would use the S-400 separately from NATO’s systems
S-400 air defense systems Vitaliy Nevar/TASS
S-400 air defense systems
© Vitaliy Nevar/TASS

ANKARA, December 27. /TASS/. Turkey has no intention to let the United States examine the S-400 air defense systems Ankara is purchasing from Russia. A source at Turkey’s Foreign Ministry told TASS on Thursday Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu made a statement to that effect to Russia’s ambassador to Turkey Alexei Yerkhov a day earlier.

"In the process of negotiations ambassador Yerkhov asked a question if foreign mass media reports saying Turkey had invited the United States to examine the S-400 system were true. Our minister replied there has been nothing of the sort," the source said.

Earlier, a source at Turkey’s Foreign Ministry told TASS Ankara would use the S-400 separately from NATO’s systems and also in a way that would keep secret all sensitive information about US fighter jets F-35.

On December 18, it was announced the US Administration had made a decision to sell to Turkey air defense systems Patriot for $3.5 billion. The sale of Patriots to Turkey will by no means affect the S-400 contract between Moscow and Ankara, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on December 19.

The first reports Russia and Turkey were in talks over an S-400 contract emerged in November 2016. Russia confirmed the conclusion of the deal on September 12, 2017. Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said the S-400 would begin to be deployed in October 2019. The head of the state-run corporation Rostec Sergei Chemezov said in December 2017 the value of the S-400 contract with Ankara stood at $2.5 billion.