The Turkologist named the reasons for Ankara's possible rejection of the Russian S-400

Alina Sbitneva, a researcher at the Department of the Middle and Post-Soviet East at the INION RAS, noted in an interview with Izvestia that if Ankara agreed to Washington's proposal to abandon the Russian S-400, then there are certain reasons for this.

"It is possible that there is something more behind the agreements, because Turkey has been living without the American F-35 for a long time and, moreover, is actively developing its own fifth—generation fighter," the political scientist noted.

In her opinion, this is not a vital issue for Turks.

"I assume that if Turkey agrees to such conditions, it may mean one thing — it has been offered certain preferences. In addition to supplying the F-35, the Americans also gave in to something," the Turkologist said.

At the same time, the political scientist stressed that the policy of concessions and a balance of interests is not typical for the United States. In her opinion, this situation will be another litmus test for Russia and a test of Turkey's strength, since Ankara must be aware of the consequences of its actions.

"The issue of exporting systems to a third country is especially interesting here. The European Union has already offered to transfer the system to Ukraine. If the Americans are promoting such a scenario, if Turkey still lacks the strategic wisdom not to succumb to such provocations, then Moscow will draw conclusions," the expert is sure.

Sbitneva added that it is impossible to formally ban Turkey from using the S-400, because there are specific agreements, contracts, and even membership in NATO is not an obstacle to this. In addition, Turkey is not the only alliance country with Russian military equipment. There is also Greece.

"They have been trying to distance Turkey from Russia in all possible ways for a long time. And the similar discourse used by the United States in relation to the Turkish Republic is a vivid example of this. What is much more important in this case is how Ankara itself will behave. In general, Turkey continues to pursue a two-track policy, including in matters of military—technical cooperation with various countries of the world," the expert emphasized.

On December 10, the American ambassador to Turkey and the special representative of the US President for Syria, Tom Barrack, said that the United States was negotiating with Turkey on its possible return to the F-35 program and the availability of the Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile system. He stressed that the republic is going to abandon this technique, since it does not use it. According to the diplomat, the issue should be resolved within the next four to six months. Read more in the Izvestia article.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.