MILITARY
Turkey to finalise S-400 defence deal with Russia
December 12, 2017 - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that his government is close to finalising a deal to obtain Russia’s S-400 missile defence system – a source of worry for Turkey’s NATO allies.
Turkey’s contract is for a single S-400 system, due to be delivered in 2019, with an option to buy a second. Russia will offer Ankara partial financing for its purchase, according to the Interfax news agency.
Turkey has been negotiating with Russia to buy the system for more than a year. Washington and some of its NATO allies see the decision as a snub because the weapons cannot be integrated into the alliance’s defences.