Russia is ready to supply Turkey with S-400 air defense systems, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.
Speaking to journalists at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Putin said that the issue was discussed earlier with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“We discussed the possibility of selling S-400s. We are ready for this,” Putin said.
Putin also said that Russia does not produce S-400 systems abroad when asked about assembling the defense systems in Turkey, and that it depends on the readiness of Turkish manufacturing industry.
“We are ready to deliver these newest and most efficient systems. President Erdoğan and our countries’ militaries are aware of it,” Russian president said.
The S-400 missiles are the new generation of the Russian missile system and so far Russia has only sold the system to China and India. Last year, both China and India signed an inter-governmental agreement for the procurement of four regiments of Russian-made S-400’s and delivery of the new air defense systems is expected to begin in 2020.
Turkey will be the first NATO member country to purchase the system, if the country reaches an agreement for their procurement.
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