ANKARA (Realist English). Turkey does not intend to abandon the Russian S-400 systems in favor of the Ukraine. This was stated by the President of Defense Industry of the Republic Ismail Demir.
“For us this is not a subject for discussion. We have discussed this issue in the past, and now we are just continuing. To abandon this is not even discussed,” he said in an interview with Izvestia.
According to him, “Turkey is able to determine its own policy and path, it has always been so”:
“Turkey’s position is to ensure peace. In the current situation, we, our leaders, are doing everything possible to stop the bloodshed and the conflict [in the Ukraine and Donbas.”
Previously, the Pentagon confirmed that Washington was negotiating with Ankara to send Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems to Kiev in exchange for Turkey’s return to the American program for the production of the fifth-generation F-35 fighter and for the lifting of sanctions against Ankara.
President Biden’s Administration is asking allies who use Russian-made weapons, including the S-300 and S-400, to consider transferring them to the Ukraine. These efforts are part of a multi-pronged effort by the Joe Biden Administration to respond to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call to help protect the Ukraine’s skies.
The Kiev regime continues to persistently ask NATO to establish a “no-fly zone” over its territory, although the foreign ministers of the Alliance member countries and Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg refused to do so.
A “no-fly zone” means prohibiting aircraft from access to certain areas. Unlike the closure of the EU skies for Russian civilian aircraft, it is impossible to establish a “no-fly zone” over the Ukraine by some order. Everyone understands that Moscow will not comply with any NATO prohibitions on the use of its military aircraft or missiles against the Ukraine.
On March 5, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin said that any attempts by other countries to create a “no-fly zone” over the Ukraine “will be considered as participation in an armed conflict.”
