Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg called the agreement between Turkey and Russia concerning the purchase of S-400 systems the “sovereign decision” of Ankara, RIA Novosti reports.

Recently the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee Petr Pavel warned the authorities of Turkey about the possible consequences of its agreement with Russia concerning the Russian S-400 missile systems.

According to Petr Pavel, the planned purchase will exclude the possibility of integration of Ankara into NATO joint air-defense forces.

“The principle of sovereignty operates when buying military equipment, but the countries are sovereign both when making a decision, and when facing the consequences of that decision”.

Pavel noted, that even as a separate installation, not integrated in the common system, S-400 deployed in Turkey will create difficulties for the facilities of allies, which may be potentially located on the territory of that country.

Previously, Foreign Minister of Turkey Mevlut Cavusoglu told Akşam daily that Ankara may refuse buying the S-400 from Russia, if they reach an agreement about co-production of the system.

“We urgently need to buy the system, because there is a need for that. We need to secure our air space. Nonetheless, if countries in opposition to Russia don’t want us to buy S-400 from them, they need to suggest an alternative option”, notes Cavusoglu.

The S-400 system which is classified as SA-21 Growler by NATO, is a system of new generation. It is supposed to destroy all types of modern means of air-cosmic attack like airplanes, prospectors, airplanes of strategic or tactical aviation, ballistic missiles, etc.

This system is the only one, which can operate with the use of four types of missiles having different starting mass and launching range, creating echeloned defense.