MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/. Russia sees no problem in supplying the S-400 air defense missile systems to Turkey despite the country's NATO membership, Vladimir Kozhin, the Russian President's aide for cooperation in defense-related technologies said on Thursday in an interview with Rossiya'24 news channel.
He recalled that the talks on deliveries of S-400's to Turkey, which took an interest in these surface-to-air missiles, were underway.
"Yes, Turkey is a NATO member, it's true, but we are not afraid," the official said. "You may ask why. Well, first of all, we always regulate strictly the products of intellectual activity before we supply anything anywhere and each country assumes obligations on what it can or can't do with the [Russian] weaponry it purchases."
"Secondly, what we sell today is current manufacture [not the prospective one - TASS]," he said answering the achor's question.
Kozhin added that the Russian Armed Forces still more advanced weapons from defense manufacturers - S-500 air defense and antimissile missile systems that capitalize on novel technological physical principles.
Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the exports of S-400 systems to Turkey at the beginning of March.
Sergei Chemezov, the president of Rostec corporation, said earlier Turkey had voiced interest in getting a loan from Russia for the purchases of armaments, including the S-400 systems
China became the first foreign customs of these weapons in line with an agreement that the Chinese and Russian officials signed in spring 2015. Media reports put the overall cost of the transaction at around $3 billion then.
Russia and India signed a similar export agreement in October 2016.