OREANDA-NEWS. The Russian military, following their colleagues from Turkey, confirmed that the first components of the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system had been delivered to Ankara. The message of the Ministry of Defense about this came to the disposal of the Russian media. 

The ministry confirmed that Turkey received the first batch on July 12. “Delivery of the rest of the system to Turkey will be carried out in strict accordance with the terms of the contract concluded with the Turkish side and within the time limits agreed by the parties”, the Ministry of Defense reported. Earlier, confirmation of supply came from the Ministry of Defense of Turkey. Components of the complexes were sent to Murted airbase in the metropolitan province of Ankara. About the beginning of deliveries reported in the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation.

Negotiations on the supply of Russian systems to Turkey began in 2016, in September 2017, Moscow confirmed the intentions of the parties to conclude a deal and reported on the conclusion of the contract. Moscow and Ankara concluded an agreement on the supply of four C-400 divisions to Turkey in 2017. The contract amount was $ 2.5 billion, said then Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov.

Washington opposed the deal and demanded that it be abandoned. As an alternative, the American side offered Ankara to buy Patriot complexes. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan refused to terminate the contract on the C-400, despite this and the threat from the United States to stop the supply of fifth-generation fighter F-35.

Against the background of US demands for Turkey to choose between the C-400 and F-35, the head of Rostec, Sergey Chemezov, in May this year announced that Russia is considering the possibility of starting deliveries of the newest Su-57 fighters to Turkey.