All news

Russia has no fear that Turkey may give up S-400 deliveries, vice-premier says

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu earlier said in Washington that "the deal on the S-400s is a decided issue"

MOSCOW, April 3. /TASS/. Russia has no grounds to fear that Turkey may give up S-400 long-range air defense missile systems, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said on Wednesday.

"So far, they are committed to the contractual obligations that have been signed and are strictly complying with them. All the rest are rumors. We have no fears so far," the vice-premier said, responding to a question about whether Russia had fears that Turkey might sever the contract.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in Washington on Wednesday that the issue of Ankara’s purchase of S-400 surface-to-air missile systems had been decided.

According to him, "the deal on the S-400s is a decided issue. The US made a proposal on the deliveries of Patriot air defense missile systems but there are no guarantees today that the deal will go through."

It was reported in November 2016 that Turkey was in talks with Russia on purchasing S-400 air defense missile systems. The contract’s signing was confirmed by the Russian side on September 12, 2017 and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced at the time that Turkey had already made an advance payment under the contract. The United States is taking active efforts to prevent Turkey from purchasing Russia’s S-400 air defense systems.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier at a press conference after negotiations with his Turkish counterpart Erdogan that Russia had made a decision to expedite the deliveries of S-400 systems to Turkey. Erdogan stated during his speech in Ankara on March 9 that Turkey would not give up the purchase of S-400 systems from Russia.

The S-400 Triumf is the most advanced long-range air defense missile system that went into service in Russia in 2007. It is designed to destroy aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, including medium-range missiles, and can also be used against ground installations.

The S-400 can engage targets at a distance of 400 km and at an altitude of up to 30 km.