Russian Federation announces earlier delivery of S-400 missile systems to Turkey

Apr 04, 2018, 01:13

"We have decided with President Erdoğan in our meeting to speed up the delivery of the S-400 systems", Putin said, referring to the purchase that has raised concerns among Turkey's North Atlantic Treaty Organisation partners.

Russian Federation and Iran have given crucial military and diplomatic backing to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government throughout the war, which began with a government crackdown on protesters and has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

On Tuesday, April 3, Putin held talks in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart Recep Erdogan.

Turkey was furious at United States support for such groups and has since launched an all-out offensive against them, starting in Afrin province. The YPG is the Syrian affiliate of the PKK, a US- and Turkey-designated terror group which has been fighting the Turkish state for more than 30 years.

"Of course, we discussed the cooperation between Russian Federation and Turkey in the defence industry. We will accelerate the process", the Russian President added.

Speaking at a later news conference with Putin, Erdogan said the cost of the project may exceed the planned $20 billion for the 4,800 megawatt (MW) plant, part of Erdogan's "2023 vision" marking 100 years since the founding of modern Turkey and meant to reduce Turkey's dependence on energy imports.

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The Akkuyu plant is being built by Russia's nuclear energy agency, Rosatom. The number of power plants under construction will be 56 with Akkuyu NPP.

Half of the offshore section of the pipeline has already been installed.

"Companies are working on it", Putin said. Almost 4.5 million Russian tourists had visited Turkey in 2014, but the following two years witnessed a dramatic fall due to Russia's suspension of visa-free travel from Turkey and discouraging its citizens to visit Turkey after the crisis.

"Our Turkish colleagues made a request in the meetings".

Kurtulmus said he met 20 tour operators on the sidelines of the 25th Moscow International Travel and Tourism Exhibition.

"That is the opposition's recent losses and Turkey's role in northern Syria".

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Russian Federation responded by barring packaged tourist tours to Turkey and halting the imports of agricultural products. The ban affected Turkish exports which fell to $87,000 in 2016. They have also sponsored a series of negotiations on the Syrian conflict in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana.

The Turkish president also said that Turkey and Russian Federation share common concerns regarding the Syrian crisis and have agreed that terror groups such as YPG and Daesh have no future in the country. "They'll never inter operate", US Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters.

In December, they finalized a deal for Turkey to purchase Russia's long-range S-400 missile defense system, raising eyebrows among some of Turkey's fellow North Atlantic Treaty Organisation members. What were we supposed to do, wait for you? As a raft of countries join together to punish Moscow, Erdogan says Ankara will not take similar measures and that the charge is "based on allegation".

"This is completely a new step, a new step towards the development of Turkey's economy", the Russian president said.

In February 2017 Putin gives the green light for the construction of the TurkStream pipeline between Russian Federation and Turkey which will eventually pump gas to the European Union.

In November, Turkey signed a letter of intent with France and Italy to strengthen co-operation on joint defence projects.

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