Moscow has already delivered two shipments of its top air defences to Turkey, despite efforts by the US to disrupt the deal between the two countries. In a bid to prevent it, Washington froze F-35 shipments to Ankara, forcing it to consider buying fifth-generation fighters elsewhere, including from Russia.
The Turkish Defence Ministry has announced that its troops have started training to operate the S-400 air defence systems, the deliveries of which commenced in July 2019. According to the statement, the training is taking place in the Russian city of Gatchina.
“S-400 training has started in Gatchina, Russia with the participation of Air Force Command personnel as part of a long-range air-and-missile defence system project”, the ministry's official Twitter account said.
Earlier in the day, the head of Turkish Defence Industries, Ismail Demir, revealed that the top-of-the-line Russian defence systems would be operational by April 2020, meaning that they will be shipped in full and that the soldiers will have finished their training by that time.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has earlier suggested that the country could order additional S-400s if the US again refuses to sell its Patriot missile systems, something that Washington has offered Ankara as an alternative to the Russian weaponry.
By offering their systems, the US hoped to convince Turkey to ditch the S-400 purchase from Russia, something that Washington has insisted on since the deal was inked in…
