Bloomberg: Erdogan Offered Putin To Return S-400s

The rejection of Russian SAMs will open the way for Ankara to acquire F-35 fighter jets.

Turkey is seeking to return S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems it purchased from Russia, President Republican Recep Tayyip Erdogan raised the issue at a meeting with his Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in Turkmenistan last week, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.

Analogous discussions, according to the agency, have previously taken place between Russian and Turkish officials.

The sources said the S-400 scrapping could improve Turkey's relations with the United States, paving the way for lifting U.S. sanctions on the Turkish defense industry and gaining access to F-35 fighter jets. A senior Turkish diplomat recently said he expects sanctions to be lifted next year. Ankara expects its role as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine will prompt Moscow to "look more favorably" on Erdogan's request, sources told Bloomberg.

In November, Bloomberg reported that Turkey had made it clear to the U.S. that it was willing to compromise on the S-400s, but did not intend to give them up completely, as demanded by Washington. In the summer, the Turkish leader said he had not discussed Ankara's possession of the S-400 with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, noting that "this issue is closed." "We discussed the F-35. We paid $1.3 billion for the F-35. We saw that Trump has good intentions regarding our purchase of the F-35," he said at the time.

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