MOSCOW. June 30 (Interfax) - Turkey will not be able to hand over the S-400 surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems it received from Russia to another state without Russia's permission, a spokesperson for the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, Maria Vorobyova, told Interfax on Tuesday.
Vorobyova was commenting on an initiative by U.S. Republican Senator John Thune, who, according to the Defense News outlet, said that the United States could buy those S-400 systems from Turkey and thus resolve a number of differences with Ankara.
"In order to export military products, the buyer of our hardware must provide Russia with an end-user declaration. So neither its handover nor its re-export to third countries will be possible without the official permission of Russia," Vorobyova said.
According to Defense News, Thune proposed an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, which would allow purchases of missile weapons using the ground forces' budget funds. Such purchases would be made on the condition of Turkey's reassurances that it will not use the proceeds in order to buy military equipment not compatible with NATO requirements.