ISTANBUL, July 10. /TASS/. The S-400 missile systems that Turkey purchased from Russia earlier have been sold to a Persian Gulf country, the Turkish pro-government newspaper Hurriyet reports.
"According to the information I have, the S-400s have been sold to a third party. The deal will be announced today (Friday - TASS). The S-400 systems will be transferred to a Persian Gulf country. Efforts were made yesterday to address certain issues, which were reportedly resolved by midnight. The United Arab Emirates and Qatar have been mentioned in this regard, but it is better to wait for an official announcement," Hurriyet columnist Abdulkadir Selvi writes.
Following talks with US leader Donald Trump on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara on July 7-8, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed confidence that Ankara would return to the F-35 program. The US president said, however, that he had not made a decision on the matter yet.
Turkey purchased four divisions of S-400 air defense systems from Russia in a $2.5 billion deal in 2017. In October 2019, Russia’s Rosoboronexport arms exporter (part of the Rostec state corporation) said the systems had been delivered. After signing a contract with Russia for the supply of an S-400 regimental set, Ankara was excluded from the US program to develop F-35 fighter jets.