The date of acceptance of the Russian S-400 by the Turkish military on combat duty was announced.

As follows from the data provided by the head of the Ministry of Defense of Turkey, Hulusi Akar, Turkish military specialists continue to carry out preparations for the placement on combat alert of Russian S-400 air defense systems. According to him, Russian air defense systems will begin to protect the airspace of Turkey in the spring of this year - in April or May.

“The process of training [operation of the S-400] and the commissioning of the S-400 continues. This is indeed a matter of principle. As our president [Turkey, Tayyip Erdogan] said, this process continues in accordance with our plans. They will be fully operational in April or May. ”- said Akar in an interview with the Turkish publication Turkiye.

It was previously assumed that the Russian S-400s will begin to protect Turkish airspace from the middle of the year, however, obviously, the implementation of this process was significantly accelerated by shifting the deadline by 1,5-2 months.

At the same time, the acquisition of additional S-400s is not yet discussed, which is obviously due to some difficulties in the negotiations. In particular, Ankara intends to acquire another large batch of Triumphs, but provided that Russia transfers technologies of these systems to Turkey, however, obviously, Moscow does not have such an interest.