Turkey has formally requested Russia’s permission to transfer its S-400 air defense systems, a move designed to clear the single biggest obstacle between Ankara and a fleet of American F-35 stealth fighters. The diplomatic maneuver, involving direct conversations between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, represents the most serious attempt yet to unwind a defense deal that has haunted Turkey’s Western alliances for nearly a decade.
The deal that broke everything
Turkey, a NATO member, decided to buy Russia’s S-400 surface-to-air missile system in 2017 for approximately $2.5 billion. By 2019, when Russia began delivering the S-400 batteries, the US kicked Turkey out of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program entirely. Turkey had been both a manufacturing partner and a buyer in the program, making the expulsion a significant economic and military blow.
US sanctions followed under CAATSA, the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which was specifically designed to punish countries that buy major Russian military equipment.
What’s on the table now
