MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/. The global community has no right to criticize Russia and Turkey for their legitimate cooperation in military and technical field, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, commenting on the West’s reaction to the deal on Russian S-400 missile system supplies to Ankara.
"No one has any right to criticize Russia and Turkey for military and technical cooperation, which is in strict compliance with the international law and is no way aimed against any third countries," Peskov said.
"No one has any grounds to voice criticism in this regard," he said.
The Kremlin spokesman stressed that the upcoming September 28 visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Ankara has solely pragmatic goals.
Russia and Turkey have close trade and economic, investment, cultural and military-technical cooperation, and also implement megaprojects, he said. "Besides, the countries cooperate in ensuring regional security, including in Syria."
During Putin’s visit the sides plan to "synchronize watches on all these issues," he added.
On September 12, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara had signed an agreement with Moscow to purchase S-400 missile systems and had already made an advance payment. Russian president’s aide for military and technical cooperation, Vladimir Kozhin, told TASS such a contract had been signed and was about to be implemented.
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 S-400 can engage targets at a distance of 400 kilometers and at an altitude of up to 30 kilometers.