OREANDA-NEWS. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that the issue with the supply of Russian anti-aircraft missile systems S-400 is closed. Speaking to reporters in the capital of Turkey, he stressed that Ankara is not going to get permission from anyone to meet their defense needs. In addition, Erdogan called the date of delivery of the C-400 to Turkey. “I’m not saying that Turkey will acquire the C-400. I say that Turkey has already bought them, this is a completed deal. They will be delivered next month”, said the head of state. He added that Turkey is not going to receive permission from anyone to defend the country. “We asked the USA to sell their systems, but they refused”, Erdogan said.

Earlier, Andrew Winterternitz, Deputy Advisor to the US Secretary of Defense for Europe and NATO, called this purchase a risk for the United States. The USA made its demands to Turkey several times: if Ankara does not refuse to acquire the Russian air defense system, Washington will not supply fifth-generation F-35 fighters to it. In the United States and other NATO countries, they fear that if Turkey is armed with both the C-400 and the F-35, then Russian radar systems will teach to recognize NATO military aircraft.

It should be noted that according to the General Director of the Rostec state corporation Sergey Chemezov, deliveries of the S-400 to Turkey will begin in two months. The agreement on the supply of four divisions S-400 to Ankara was reached in September 2017. The contract value is 2.5 billion dollars, half of this amount will be covered by a Russian loan. The head of the Rostec said that advance payments had already been made and a loan was issued. In addition, Chemezov added, the equipment was manufactured and training on the use of machines was completed, the Russian media wrote.