Turkey not considering plans to sign new S-400 deal, Ankara says

S-400

ANKARA, November 20. /TASS/: Turkey is not considering any plans of striking a new deal with Russia on the supplies of S-400 missile systems, Turkish Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Wednesday.

"As you know, our deal was signed in April 2017, the process [of S-400 supplies] under this agreement is underway. At the moment, there is no talk on signing a new agreement. Now an effort will continue on delivering the batteries, training personnel, deploying the systems, choosing their location and software adjustment. This is certainly a long process in technical terms," Kalin stated, according to the website of Erdogan’s administration.

In September 2017, Russia announced that it had signed a $2.5 bln deal with Turkey on supplying S-400 missile systems. The contract envisages partial transfer of production technology to the Turkish side. The first deliveries began on July 12, 2019. The United States and NATO have been seeking to disrupt the deal. The White House said in mid-July that Turkey’s decision to purchase Russian S-400 air defense systems rendered its continued involvement with the F-35 fighter jets impossible.