Turkey signs Purchase Agreement for Russia’s S-400 Defense Systems

Erdogan signaled that negotiations had hit rocky ground as he was returning from Sochi, Russia, where he met with President Vladimir Putin. Among others things, the leaders discussed Syria and the recent deal for Ankara to buy Russian S-400 air defense systems.

Talks on buying US-made Patriot missile systems aren’t going smoothly, as Americans are giving the cold shoulder to Turkish requests.

Talks of acquiring Patriot systems from the USA have been in the works for years, but the negotiations have stalled several times. 

It would be extremely difficult for Washington to agree to share the Patriot technology with Turkey, because the system itself “is closely tied to US satellites and command centers.

Turkey signed a purchase agreement despite immense pressure from its ally Washington, whose politicians had suggested that the purchase of Russian-made arms would undermine security and interoperability within NATO.

Erdogan reiterated that there is “no walking back” from the contract with Russia, and that the two sides are working to start the deployment of the S-400’s to Turkey in July. Some 55% of their cost is set to be covered by a loan that Moscow is providing to Ankara.

Turkey is also still interested in getting S-500’s – the more advanced iteration of the S-400s – sometime in the future, Erdogan stated. He earlier suggested that if such a deal were to be struck, it should be a joint production.

A world in which there are choices & options is a good one. A world in which you are able to freely exercise those choices & options is even better.

A world in which you’re able to protect yourself from those who try to undermine your rights to those choices & options is the best one. We can only wish for a multi-polar world in which sanctions & threats are ineffective.

Sott.net / ABC Flash Point Technology News 2019.