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| Erdogan |
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that his country will buy the missile defense system from Russia.
Despite the repeated warnings from the United States, Erdogan said the deliveries with the S-400 system will begin in July. A day earlier, US Vice President Mike Pence warned that Turkey is threatening its NATO membership if buys the Russian system, which is a threat to US aircraft for Washington.However, the Turkish president said Ankara had previously considered buying the American missile system Patriot, but that the US bid "was not as favorable as that of Russia."
Ankara is establishing closer ties with Russia after the deterioration of its relations with the US and Europe. Turkey has the second largest army in NATO. The relations between NATO and Russia have deteriorated after the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea from Moscow in 2014.