Russia announced on Thursday finalizing negotiations with Turkey for the sale of the S-400 air defense system, which is due to begin in late 2019.
“In practice, the contract enters the implementation phase,” said Vladimir Kogen, a senior aide to the president for military cooperation. “All the frameworks, all the technology, the whole deal has been agreed upon.”
“All aspects have been agreed upon in the last few days,” Kojin said. “The contract will include two parts of finance: part of it will be paid by Turkey and another by a credit from Russia.”
“Delivery will probably begin by the end of 2019 in early 2020,” Kojin was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the deal during Putin’s visit to Ankara last week.
The agreement to buy the latest Russian surface-to-air missile systems is the most important deal Turkey wants outside NATO, and comes amid tense relations between Ankara and Western countries.
The value of the contract was estimated at $ 2 billion, according to reports.
Turkey’s decision to buy the Russian system has raised concern among NATO nations and the Pentagon said earlier it was “generally a good idea” to buy operational equipment with other NATO military systems.
Besides Turkey, Russia is negotiating to sell the system to Saudi Arabia.
Kojin said on Thursday the two sides were seeking to finalize negotiations on the remaining issues of the contract before the end of the year.