Russia Reportedly Tries to Purchase Its Air Defense Systems Back From NATO Member
Russia has reportedly approached Turkey with a proposal to repurchase the S-400 air defense systems it sold to Ankara in 2019, amid inventory shortages and increasing demand from third countries, Turkish media outlet Nefes reported.
The news was first reported by Turkish outlet Nefes and has not been officially confirmed by Ankara, although Militarnyi, a Ukrainian news website specializing in military matters, said sources point to a “positive attitude” toward Moscow’s proposal among Turkish officials.
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The request comes as Turkey, a NATO member, has been developing its own air defense system called Steel Dome, which aims to make the country less dependent on Russian technology.
Moscow appears to be in short supply of its own, domestically supplied S-400s and is reportedly considering buying back the two S-400 systems it sold to Turkey in 2017 and delivered in 2019 for $2.5 billion, following unsuccessful attempts to buy US Patriot systems.
Although Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the systems would be fully operational by April 2020, Ankara still does not actively use them.
They were never integrated into NATO, their missiles are already halfway through their shelf life, and maintenance costs pose a burden for Ankara.
The deal resulted in a spat with the US and saw Ankara being excluded from the F-35 program and facing sanctions. Getting rid of the S-400s would make it easier for Turkey to continue negotiations with Washington for F-16 fighter jets and seek readmission to the F-35 program, Türkiye Today reported.
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Russia, for its part, is interested in replenishing its S-400 stockpile, as demand for these systems grows amid battlefield losses, Militarnyi wrote.
This is not the first time the fate of Turkey’s S-400s has surfaced internationally. In 2023, then-Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that the US asked Ankara to send the S-400s to Ukraine a proposal that Ankara strongly rejected.
Meanwhile, Russia has struggled to meet its commitments to other buyers, such as India, with saw another postponement of its order for the S400s, which has now been pushed back to 2026-2027, Militarnyi reported.
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