MOSCOW, April 4. /TASS/. Russia will deliver a regiment set of S-400 air defense missile systems to Turkey in October 2019, a source in military and diplomatic circles told TASS on Wednesday.

The regiment set of S-400 surface-to-air missile systems will be delivered to Turkey aboard three ships by the Black Sea, the source added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in Ankara on Tuesday following his talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that a decision had been made to accelerate the delivery of S-400 air defense missile systems to Turkey. The Turkish side stated on Wednesday that the date of S-400 deliveries had been rescheduled for July 2019.

"Under the recently signed appendix to the contract, the delivery of the two-battalion regiment of S-400 systems to Turkey will be carried out in October 2019 instead of early 2020, i.e. actually four months earlier," the source told TASS.

As the source noted, "the S-400 regiment will be delivered to Turkey across the Black Sea by three vessels from the port of Novorossiysk."

The regiment set "includes a command post, radar stations, launchers, missiles, power-generating plant and auxiliary equipment, spare parts and accessories," the source said.

Russia’s Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation has declined to comment on the information provided by the source.

S-400 missile systems for Turkey

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.

Turkey became the second foreign buyer of the S-400 system after China and the first NATO member country to get the surface-to-air missile system from Russia.

Different timeframes of the S-400 delivery to Turkey were mentioned earlier. In March 2018, Russian presidential aide for military and technical cooperation Vladimir Kozhin said that Russia planned to deliver the regiment set of S-400 missile systems to Turkey in early 2020.

In February, Head of Russia’s state hi-tech corporation Sergei Chemezov said in an interview with The Washington Post that the systems would be handed over to the customer in 2019 but did not specify the date.

The S-400 Triumf is the Russian long-and medium-range air defense missile system intended to hit attack and reconnaissance planes, including stealth aircraft, and any other air targets. The S-400 can engage up to 80 targets at a time at a distance of 400 km and an altitude of 30 km.