According to information I have, the S-400 missiles have been sold to a third party" - TASS quoted information from Turkish journalist Abdulkadir Selvi of Hurriyet newspaper.
This source added: S-400 missiles will be transferred to a Persian Gulf nation. On July 9, efforts were made to solve some problems and those problems were resolved in the middle of the night.
The United Arab Emirates and Qatar have been mentioned in this issue, but it is best to wait for an official announcement," journalist Abdulkadir Selvi stated.
After talks with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara on July 7-8, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed confidence that Ankara will return to the F-35 program. However, the US President said he has not yet made a final decision on this issue.
Previously, there was information that US officials were discussing the neutralization of some components of the Russian-made S-400 air defense system being used by Turkey as one of the options to supply Turkey with the fifth-generation F-35 fighter jet.
Washington considers this scenario a compromise because it will help avoid restrictions on selling F-35s to Turkey while allowing Ankara to retain the S-400 system. However, at that time, the administration of President Donald Trump had not yet made a final decision on how Washington would sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey.
In 2017, Turkey bought 4 S-400 air defense missile systems from Russia for 2.5 billion USD. In October 2019, Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport (under state-owned corporation Rostec) said the missile systems had been delivered. After signing a contract with Russia for the S-400, Turkey was excluded from the US F-35 fighter jet development program.
