The United States will not be able to convince Turkey to abandon the Russian S-400 air defense systems, for the Turkish side it is not profitable either economically or politically; in addition, the Americans are not offering Ankara anything in return, Ivan Timofeev, program director of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), told RIA Novosti.
The US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken discussed on Monday by telephone with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu the issue of Turkey’s purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems and urged not to abandon these systems.
“Until this call will have any effect, because the systems have already been purchased, they are already in service in Turkey. The Americans will need to offer some extraordinary efforts to convince the Turks of this. Offer them, for example, alternative Patriot systems. And then, if the Turks abandon the S-400 now and refuse to fulfill further contracts with Moscow and obligations, they will have to pay a fine. For Turkey, this is unprofitable either economically or politically, because the United States does not offer anything in return”, – the expert said.
According to him, it is not clear whether Washington is ready to supply Patriot to Ankara, because one of the reasons for the Turkish side’s purchase of Russian S-400 complexes was that they did not receive Patriot from the Americans.
“The United States has even imposed sanctions against Turkey, but did not offer anything in return, nothing concrete. But Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is a realistic and pragmatic politician, he, I think, has a different opinion on this matter, so no action we should not expect from him yet”, – added Timofeev.
Deliveries of the latest Russian S-400 air defense systems, which caused a crisis in Turkey’s relations with the United States, began in mid-July 2019. Washington demanded to abandon the deal and purchase American Patriot systems in return, threatening to delay or even cancel the sale of the latest F-35 fighters to Turkey, as well as to impose sanctions in accordance with CAATSA (the law “On Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions”).