ANKARA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler on Thursday ruled out the possibility of transferring the Russian-made S-400 missile defense system to any other country, including Ukraine.
"Giving our S-400 system to any other country is out of the question," the minister said in an interview with the CNN Türk broadcaster when asked if Ankara had received any proposal to transfer the S-400 system to Ukraine.
The United States had proposed Türkiye to send the S-400 system to Ukraine, but Ankara rejected the proposal, former Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in May last year.
Tensions between the United States and Türkiye escalated in 2017 when Ankara and Moscow struck the S-400 deal. Washington claimed that the S-400 system would be incompatible with the NATO system and could expose its confidential military information to Russia.
Washington later halted the delivery of F-35 fighter jets to Türkiye and imposed sanctions on the country for purchasing a Russian-made defense system. ■
