'Not our concern': Moscow has no intention of getting involved in US-Turkey dispute over S-400 deal - UPDATE: Turkey allegedly tests missile system

RT
Tue, 04 Jun 2019 15:12 UTC

© AFP PHOTO / Russian Defence Ministry

Russia's S-400 air defence missile systems in Syria

The Kremlin says it has no intention of interfering in how Turkey and the US work to settle their dispute over Ankara's purchase of Russia's S-400 defense systems. Earlier, Ankara said it's committed to the deal.

"Turkey does not have to notify [Russia about the creation of a working group], this is none of our business," the Russian president's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists on Tuesday.

Instead, what Moscow is focused on is "to complete the S-400 deal" with Turkey, "which is currently underway."

Washington has been persistently bullying Ankara into dropping the purchase. It has halted the delivery of American F-35 fighter jets to Turkey and even threatened to completely kick its major NATO ally out of the fighter project.

The White House also tried to persuade Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan into buying its Patriot missile systems. On Tuesday, Erdogan said so far the US failed to provide an offer "as good" as Moscow did with its arms.

Comment: UPDATE 16/10/2020: Though this disputes has faded from the news cycle it is still having reverberations:

The US State Department has warned the Turkish government of "potential serious consequences" to the two nations' security relationship should reports of Ankara testing the Russian S-400 air defense systems prove true.

"If confirmed, we would condemn in the strongest terms the S-400 test missile launch as incompatible with Turkey's responsibilities as a NATO ally and strategic partner of the United States," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said on Friday.

Ortagus insisted that the air defense system "should not be operationalized," adding, "We have also been clear on the potential serious consequences for our security relationship if Turkey activates the system."

Washington's reaction comes after a Reuters report showed "a narrow column of smoke headed high into the blue sky" near the city of Sinop in northern Turkey. According to the outlet's defense analyst Turan Oguz, the smoke pattern suggested it was a missile launch of the Russian-made S-400.

The Turkish defense ministry said it would neither confirm nor deny any missile tests. Ankara has previously said it intended to make the S-400s it had purchased from Moscow fully operation by the end of 2020.

Turkey has already received a lot of backlash from the US over its procurement of the air defense system. Following the delivery of the first four missile batteries from Russia in August 2019, Washington suspended Turkey from the F-35 fighter-jet program, and has threatened further sanctions.