ANKARA, April 3. /TASS/. Turkey and Russia may reach agreement on more projects in the defense sector, along with the purchase of Russian S-400 missile systems, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday at a joint news conference with his visiting Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

"We have reached an agreement on S-400 systems. As concrete steps are being taken on that matter, we can cooperate on other issues related to the defense sector," he said.

The media reported in November 2016 that the two countries were in talks on possible sales of Russian S-400 systems to Turkey. The Russian side confirmed that the contract had been signed in September 2017. The Turkish president said back than that an advance payment had already been made. Turkey will be the first NATO member country to buy Russian S-400 systems. The overall amount of such systems to be sold to Turkey has not been disclosed officially.

Russian president’s aide for military technical cooperation Vladimir Kozhin said earlier the implementation of the contract would begin in early 2020.