MOSCOW, July 14. /TASS/. Russia and the Middle East will continue cooperating in the sphere of deliveries of Russian armament to the region, Head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the State Duma [Lower House of the Russian Parliament - TASS] Leonid Slutsky said in an interview with RT TV Channel. The start of S-400 SAM system supplies to Turkey is just ‘the first shot’, the MP said.

"Turkey is the first sign. S-400 and a more advanced armament system from Russia will definitely appear in the region. We will cooperate closely; volumes of such cooperation are huge. I am confident we should increase such cooperation at every possible way," Slutsky said.

Deliveries of S-400 to Turkey began on July 12. According to the Turkish Defense Ministry, on this day three cargo planes delivered several tractors and a loading vehicle from the S-400 complex.

The S-400 Triumph (SA-21 Growler by NATO classification) is a Russian-made long-range and intermediate air defense missile system designed to eliminate all advanced and perspective aerospace weapons. It can hit aerodynamic targets at a range of up to 400 kilometers and tactical ballistic targets flying at a speed of 4.8 km/s at a distance of up to 60 kilometers. Such targets include cruise missiles, tactical and strategic aircraft and ballistic missile warheads. The radars detect aerial targets at a distance of up to 600 kilometers. The 48N6E3 missiles can hit aerodynamic targets at altitudes of 10,000-27,000 meters and ballistic targets at altitudes of 2,000-25,000 meters.