ANKARA, April 3. /TASS/. There are no restrictions of the military political nature for joint production of S-400 missile systems with Turkey or transfer of the corresponding technologies to that country, this is a purely commercial issue, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday after talks with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Ankara.
"The issue about joint production or technologies transfer is not a matter of trust or any political cooperation for us. It is a purely commercial matter that is agreed between economic entities," he said. "We have no military political considerations and restrictions concerning it."
He said various issues, including those of military technical cooperation, were in focus of his talks with Erdogan. Commenting on Russia’s decision to expedite S-400 deliveries to Turkey, the Russian leader stressed it had been done "at the request of our Turkish partners and friends."
"Naturally, we discussed cooperation between Russian and Turkey in the military technical sphere, in particular, the implementation of the contract for supplies of S-400 Triumf missile systems to Turkey. We have decided to expedite deliveries if these highly efficient Russian-made defense systems," Putin said.
It was announced in the summer of 2017 that Ankara and Moscow had signed a 2.5 billion ruble (43.32 million US dollars) contract for the sale of Russian-made S-400 systems to Turkey. The first batches of S-400 systems are to be dispatched in 2019-2020.
Earlier on Tuesday, Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov pledged that Russia would exert every effort for completing the delivery of air defense systems S-400 to Turkey by 2020.
Russia’s S-400 Triumf (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler) is the latest long-range antiaircraft missile system that went into service in 2007. It is designed to destroy aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, including medium-range missiles, and surface targets. The system can hit aerodynamic targets at a range of up to 400 kilometers (249 miles) and tactical ballistic targets flying at a speed of 4.8 km/s (3 mi/s) at a distance of up to 60 kilometers (37 miles). Such targets include cruise missiles, tactical and strategic aircraft and ballistic missile warheads.
The system’s radars detect aerial targets at a distance of up to 600 kilometers (373 miles). The system’s 48N6E3 surface-to-air missiles can hit aerodynamic targets at altitudes of 10,000-27,000 meters and ballistic threats at altitudes of 2,000-25,000 meters.