Russia to start implementing S-400 deal with Turkey in early 2020.

Russia will start to implement the contract on the delivery of S-400 (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler) air defense missile systems to Turkey in early 2020, Russian presidential aide for military and technical cooperation Vladimir Kozhin said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel.

S-400 (SA-21 Growler) air defense missile system (Picture source: narod.ru)

"Turkey expressed a wish to speed up the implementation of the S-400 deal and we managed to find the most appropriate solution as we agreed to accelerate the implementation of the contract. I believe that we will start to fulfill it in early 2020," Kozhin said.

"As for Turkey, we appreciate the Turkish leadership’s position as they have said many times that their national interests are their top priority," the presidential aide said, speaking about the pressure NATO was exerting on Turkey to make it give up the idea of purchasing Russian-made weapon. Kozhin said that "the contract has been signed and is being implemented."

According to him, Russia’s operation in Syria has allowed testing almost all recently-developed military hardware items, in particular, the Sukhoi Su-35 (Flanker-E) fighter jet, short-range air defense systems and anti-tank systems. "One thing is when you offer to look at mockups, booklets and military hardware tested at the testing ground, but weapons tested in real combat are an absolutely another thing," Kozhin said.

"We did not seek to advertise our military hardware in the Syrian operation because it is a tragedy, a war and a catastrophe, but nevertheless we had to go to the country and use our most advanced weapons there," he added. According to him, "all our partners highly assessed that", especially the weapons’ capability to operate in harsh weather conditions.