According to a foreign news outlet, the delivery of the second batch of Russian S-400 air defense systems to Turkey is delayed due to Ankara's objection to the clause prohibiting the sale of the complex to third countries, which is customary in the global practice of military-technical cooperation.
Yuri Philipson, director of the fourth European department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, says that Moscow does not see any unresolved issues in the issue of supplying Turkey with the second system of the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system.
Turkey and Russia signed a contract on April 11, 2017 for two S-400 systems worth about $2.5 billion. The first delivery of the S-400 missile system began on July 12, 2019 and was completed in September 2019, but did not provide Turkey with any technology transfer.
Russia simply sent two S-400 units and more than 120 long-range missiles as part of the deal along with experts to train the Turkish military on how to operate them. The second batch has not yet been delivered.
In 2022, the director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSVTS) of Russia, Dmitry Shugaev, said that the contract for the supply of the second regiment of S-400 air defense systems was signed and began to be implemented.
According to a Turkish media outlet, Russia not only signed an agreement on the exchange of knowledge, but also gave a number of positive messages in this context.
“While we were so close to obtaining this critical expertise, there was a pause in Ankara. It became known that due to an article in the contract, the issue of transition to the second phase was postponed and was waiting for the necessary approval at the table of the Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar.
The reason Ankara opposes is the ban on sales to third countries, which is a clause in defense industry agreements almost all over the world," the media reports.
These statements gain considerable interest if one takes into account that the President of the Turkish Defense Industry, Ismail Demir, recently stated that if the US F-16 deal fails, Turkey may consider buying Russian Su-35 fighter jets.
The insistence of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government to proceed with the acquisition of Russian weapons has come at a high cost for Turkey.
Recall that Ankara was not only expelled from the global F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program but also suffered a series of sanctions, embargoes and restrictions on the supply of defense equipment from the US and other NATO allies.
The Turkish defense industry was to benefit immensely from the F-35 program, in terms of technology transfer and spare parts sales. About 1,000 parts for F-35 fighter jets were manufactured by various Turkish companies until the US and its partners decided to source them from other countries after the Erdogan government bought the Russian missiles.
Turkey also lost the nearly $11 billion it expected to earn from the sale of these parts.
The US has repeatedly warned Turkey that activating the S-400 missiles or buying a second batch would trigger tougher sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
To recall, on December 14, 2020, the US imposed sanctions on Turkey's Defense Industry Presidency (Savunma Sanayii Başkanlığı, SSB) and some of its key officers regarding the S-400 procurement.
