National Currencies to Be Used in Russia-Turkey Settlements on S-400 Deliveries

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The settlements between Moscow and Ankara on the deliveries of the Russian S-400 air defence systems to Turkey will be carried out with the use of national currencies, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.

"The settlements on S-400 systems must be carried out with the use of national currencies. The transfer of these systems to Turkey should be completed by the end of 2019 after which the provision on the settlements with the use of national currencies, which we have suggested from the very beginning, will be implemented by the efforts of finance ministers and central banks of the two countries," Erdogan told reporters before taking off to Argentina for attending the G20 summit, as broadcast by NTV.

In December 2017, Ankara signed a loan agreement with Moscow envisaging the delivery of the Russian-made S-400 air defence systems to Turkey. Russia's Rostec state corporation CEO Sergey Chemezov said then that the contract envisaged the delivery of four S-400 battalion-size sets worth $2.5 billion, with 55 percent of the contract sum being covered by Russian loans.

READ MORE: 'Done Deal': Turkish FM Says Purchase of Russian S-400 Cannot Be Cancelled

In October, Akara said that Turkey would begin the deployment of the S-400s in October 2019.