Washington’s Patriot offer wasn’t favorable to us, we’re sticking with Moscow’s S-400s – Erdogan

Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that talks with the US to buy the Patriot air defense missile system went sour, and that Ankara will honor a major arms deal with Russia, despite Washington’s pressure to drop it.

“The US didn’t provide us with favorable terms on buying Patriot systems. That’s why we’re not looking forward to that,” Erdogan told reporters on Friday.

He reiterated that Turkey won’t call off the deal to buy Russia’s state-of-the-art S-400 air defense missile systems and confirmed that their delivery will begin in July, as scheduled.

US Vice President Mike Pence had earlier said that getting the S-400s would be a “reckless” step that would “undermine” NATO. Turkish officials rebuffed the pressure from its ally, arguing that the nation has a right to choose its arms trade partners.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to hold talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on April 8 in Moscow.

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