Turkey Delays Purchase of Second Batch of Russian C-400s

The head of Turkey's defense industry, Ismail Demir, has addressed rumors regarding the purchase of a second batch of Russian C-400 air defense systems by Turkey. It is known that Moscow sold the first batch of these systems to Turkey, which led to a serious crisis in Turkish-American relations. Recently, Washington also decided on sanctions against Ankara.

“As long as there are no additional sanctions imposed by the U.S., we do not see any dangers here. If we wanted, the second batch of S-400s could arrive in Turkey today, but we are more interested in joint production of air defense systems and technology transfer,” the Turkish official stated, as reported by ermenihaber.

Earlier, on December 9, it was revealed that Washington imposed sanctions on Turkey due to the acquisition of the Russian systems. The U.S. Treasury Department emphasized that the sanctions are individual in nature. The targets of these sanctions included the head of Turkey's defense industry, Ismail Demir, and three of his subordinates.