Russia gets Turkey onside by partly financing S-400 deal

Russia's S-400 has become one of the 'must buys' for military focused Middle East states. Turkey's bid to buy the Russian air defence system will be partly financed by Moscow.

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1 min read

The New Arab

13 Dec, 2017

Russia's S-400 appears to be the must have air defence system [Getty]

Russian credit will partially fund Turkey's purchase of the new S-400 air defence system, Moscow's Interfax news service reported on Tuesday.

The partial financing scheme is still under process, with interest rates and other "technical questions" being discussed, but comes as Turkey and Russia announced they had finalised the missiles deal.

The announcement came as President Vladimir Putin visit Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Monday.

It ended a year of negotiations for the S-400 deal and is seen as a snub for the US and Turkey's NATO allies as Erdogan moves closer to Russia.

This followed a fierce war of words between the two leaders after a Russian fighter bomber operating in Syria was shot down by Turkey.

After a brief diplomatic and trade war between Ankara and Moscow, Erdogan and Putin patched up their differences after an attempted coup attempt against the Turkish president.

The S-400 has become a popular defence system of choice in the region. Saudi Arabia and Qatar appear both ready to purchase the system.