Pentagon: Turkey's sovereign right to purchase Russian C-400 systems

Baku. 15 July. REPORT.AZ/ US Secretary of Defense James Mattis has described Turkey's desire to acquire the missile and air defense systems from Russia, not from its NATO allies, as the country's sovereign right, Report informs referring to TASS.

Journalists asked the Pentagon chief whether he approved or not the above-mentioned step of Turkey that has decided to purchase the surface-to-air missile system C-400 from Russia. "This is the sovereign right, that is all," James Mattis replied.

The Pentagon chief pointed out that the C-400 systems were not compatible with the military equipment of the North Atlantic Alliance.

"The problem is how to ensure the operational compatibility of the NATO system with the Russian one. They will never be operationally compatible," said the Defense Secretary.

In connection with this, he called on to wait for the further development of events and see whether or not the deal would really be signed and fulfilled.

Along with it, the Pentagon chief noted that the diplomatic crisis in the Persian Gulf has not affected the biggest base of the U.S. Air Forces in the Middle East located in Qatar at all, and Washington considers that there is no need to replace this facility.