Turkey asked Russia to take back S-400 system: Report

Turkey has asked Russia to take back the S-400 air defence system as it looks to acquire advanced American F-35 warplanes.

The request from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin, took place during a meeting in Turkmenistan last week, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. It came after earlier talks among Russian and Turkish officials.

The report came after the US ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, said that Ankara and Washington were in talks about Turkey rejoining the US warplanes co-production system.

"The United States is in ongoing discussions with Türkiye regarding their desire to rejoin the F-35 program and their possession of the Russian-made S-400 air defense system," Barrack wrote in a post on X.

Turkey never operated the F-35, but was expelled from a co-production programme in 2019 after it purchased the Russian S-400 air defence system. 

The US Congress was already angry at Turkey over several incursions into Syria and violations of Greek airspace, and it slapped penalties on Ankara over the purchase.

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In 2020, it included an amendment in a defence bill that banned Turkey from receiving the F-35 unless the president certifies that Turkey no longer possess the S-400.

Additionally, Turkey was slapped with sanctions that have stifled defence cooperation between the US and Turkey's Defence Procurement Agency.

Erdogan’s request that Russia take back the S-400 is a climbdown from Turkey’s previous position, which sought to keep the S-400, potentially mothballing it, while still purchasing the F-35.

One of the potential compromises analysts discussed would have had Turkey keeping the S-400 in a warehouse and not activating it, as it is doing at the moment, but allowing Nato inspectors to continuously verify that.

Turkey had earlier resisted sending the S-400 to a third country.

Relations between the US and Turkey have improved under Trump, who has leaned on Turkish influence in Syria and also relied on Ankara to coax Hamas into agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza.

Aaron Stein, president of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, previously told Middle East Eye that Trump was eager to work with Turkey on a deal.

"The really big customers for F-35s are Turkey, the UAE and Saudi Arabia," he said. "Trump wants nothing more than to sell F-35s to Turkey. I assume he would go against the Israelis. Forty jets is a big order,” he said, referring to reports on the number of warplanes Ankara has discussed buying.