Moscow, (Samajweekly) Russian state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport said on Monday that it may soon sign a new contract with Turkey on the supply of more S-400 air defence missile systems.
“Consultations are continuing. I believe they are already at their final stage,” Rosoboronexport Director General Alexander Mikheev said at the International Military-Technical Forum “Army-2021”, without disclosing details of the possible contract, Xinhua news agency reported.
Russia and Turkey signed their first deal on the S-400 systems in 2017 and Turkey received the first shipment in July 2019.
Turkey is the first member state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to purchase the S-400 systems, which has led to discontent on part of the US.
Washington claimed that the Russian weapons would be incompatible with the NATO system and may collect confidential military information for Moscow.
The S-400 system, designed and manufactured by Russia’s Almaz-Antey arms manufacturer, is capable of destroying targets at a distance of up to 400 km and a height of about 30 km.
At the Army-2021 forum, Mikheev also said that Russia has signed arms export contracts worth a total of $8.6 billion in 2021, and that the company is delivering weapons to 61 countries.
