The Turkish Defense Ministry announced Friday the arrival of the first group of parts of the advanced Russian air defense system "S-400" to a military airport in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
This came in a statement published by the ministry on its account on the social networking site "Twitter" today.
According to the statement, reported by the Anatolia news agency: "Within the framework of the agreement between the two sides (Turkish and Russian), the first batch of parts of the system S400 - to the base," apostate "air in the capital Ankara, as of 12 July 2019.
The Presidency of the defense industries in Turkey in a statement to start the first phase of the receipt of the system, "S-400" with the arrival of the first aircraft carrying parts of the system, to Ankara, noting that the receipt of the rest of the system will continue in the coming days. It is not clear when the system will be installed and activated.
For its part, confirmed the Russian government that it began shipping the first batch of parts of the advanced air defense system "S -400" to Turkey, according to Russian media. "It confirms the fact that the S-400 system has started to be supplied to Turkey," the Russian military technical cooperation agency said in a statement on Friday. The statement added: "The delivery process is in accordance with deadlines agreed upon.
The United States threatened to impose sanctions on Turkey, a NATO ally, if Ankara went ahead with the purchase of the Russian defense system because of security considerations.
The purchase became a bone of contention between the NATO allies, Ankara and Washington, where the White House strongly opposed the use of the system in NATO airspace, citing security concerns.
Washington fears that Russia may spy on the advanced American stealth fighter F35 through S-400 radars. Turkey is a partner in the production of F-35 fighter jets and expects to purchase more than 100 aircraft.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed on Monday that preparations were under way to ship the system, saying on Wednesday that Turkey would use the system "wherever and wherever we need it."
