Home › World › What did Turkey's first S-400 delivery signal?
What did Turkey's first S-400 delivery signal?
Summary
A look back at 12 July 2019, when Ankara received the first Russian missile system shipment despite U.S. and NATO appeals, and at a court ruling a day earlier.
What happened on 12 July 2019, when Turkey received its first shipment of the S-400 missile system from Russia? The delivery went ahead in defiance of calls from the United States and NATO to cancel the deal.
The shipment marked a concrete step in Russia–Turkey relations. Washington and the alliance had pressed Ankara to abandon the purchase, and the arrival of the first components showed that those appeals had not changed the outcome.
A court ruling the day before
On 11 July 2019, the day before the delivery, the EU Court of Justice annulled the 2018 sanctions against Viktor Yanukovych and his team. The ruling concerned the measures imposed in 2018 on the former Ukrainian president and those around him.
The two developments were unrelated, but both fell within the 24 hours that drew attention to Russia's neighbourhood and to how Western institutions handled decisions that affected it.
