TSAMTO, June 1. Turkey cannot accept the proposals of other countries to abandon the use of the S-400 air defense system. This was stated by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, RIA Novosti reports.
US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said earlier that Washington has offered Ankara an alternative to the S-400 systems purchased from the Russian Federation, and Turkey knows what steps it should take.
"The S-400 will be 100% under our control. We have sent many technicians for training. There will be no Russian military in Turkey, " the TRT Haber TV channel quoted Cavusoglu as saying in Athens.
"But at the same time, we cannot accept an offer from another country that we do not use the S-400," the minister said.
As RIA Novosti reminds, deliveries of Russian S-400 air defense systems, which caused a crisis in Turkey's relations with the United States, began in mid-July 2019. Washington demanded to abandon the deal and purchase American Patriot systems, threatening to delay or even cancel the sale of the latest F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, as well as impose sanctions in accordance with CAATSA (the law "On Countering America's Adversaries through Sanctions"). Ankara refused to make concessions and continued negotiations on an additional batch of S-400s.
