MOSCOW, July 10 (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia was in touch with Turkey about the fate of Russian S-400 missile systems which Ankara owns after a news outlet reported that Turkey was poised to transfer the air defence missiles to an unnamed Gulf country.
Turkish news outlet Hurriyet reported earlier on Friday that Turkey could announce it would resell the S-400s to one of the Gulf nations as soon as today in order to persuade the United States to lift sanctions on Ankara.
In 2020, the U.S. sanctioned fellow NATO member Turkey over the purchase of the S-400s and removed it from a procurement and manufacturing programme for F-35 fighter jets which Ankara wanted to be involved in.
Asked on Friday about the media report and if Turkey had sought Russia’s permission to go ahead with the alleged deal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said:
“I can say one thing here: this is an extremely sensitive issue. However, we have been in contact with the Turkish side on this matter, and we will continue to maintain contact with them on this issue.”
(Reporting by Dmitry AntonovEditing by Andrew Osborn)
