Russia will sell Turkey four batteries of S-400 surface-to-air missiles for $2.5 billion under a deal that is almost complete, Sergei Chemezov, head of Russian state conglomerate Rostec, told the Kommersant daily on Wednesday.
National Defense Minister of Turkey Nurettin Canikli confirmed the statement and added that the S-400 deal had been concluded.
During a press conference in Tunisia Canikli was asked about Sergey Chemezov’s remarks.
“That is correct. Two systems, four batteries in total. The deal is completely done,” Canikli said.
He said what was at stake during the negotiations was whether to take out a loan or finance the deal themselves.
“But the idea of paying a portion of the total amount by getting a loan prevailed in the end. Otherwise, it was already a done deal,” he added.
Russian news agency TASS quoted Chemezov as saying that the finance ministries of Turkey and Russia had completed the negotiations and the first of the deliveries was scheduled for early 2020.
The S-400 is Russia’s most advanced long-range anti-aircraft missile system with a capacity of carrying three types of missiles that can destroy ballistic and cruise missiles.
The system can track and engage up to 300 targets at a time and has an altitude ceiling of 27 kilometres.
The deal has caused concern in the West because Turkey is a member of NATO but the Russian missile system cannot be integrated into NATO’s military architecture.
Chemezov said that Turkey was the first NATO member state to acquire the advanced S-400 missile system.
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