MOSCOW – Qatar has been holding negotiations with Russia to purchase S-400missile air defense systems and other weaponry, Doha’s ambassador to Moscowsays.
“Talks about the subject are at an advanced stage,” Fahad bin Mohammedal-Attiyah said in an interview with Russia’s TASS news agency on Thursday.
The diplomat noted that Qatar is also negotiating with Russia to buymilitary hardware for Qatari ground troops.
Attiyah pointed to an agreement that Doha and Moscow signed on military andtechnical cooperation in October 2017 , noting that the deal laid thegroundwork for further military cooperation between Russia and Qatar.
That agreement was signed during a visit by Russian Defence Minister SergeiShoigu to Qatar.
This cooperation includes “supplies of military hardware, military trainingof officers and soldiers, equipment and, indeed, cooperation on the levelof special services,” he added.
According to the diplomat, Qatar and Russia will also have militaryattaches posted in embassies.
Persian Gulf Arab states have stepped up purchasing state-of-of-the-artweaponry from the world powers amid a diplomatic crisis between Qatar and aSaudi-led quartet of Arab countries continues.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Dohain June 2017, accusing the kingdom of sponsoring terrorism anddestabilizing the region.
Qatar has rejected the claims, while maintaining that it is paying theprice for its independent foreign policy.
According to Russian Presidential Aide on Military Cooperation VladimirKozhin, Moscow is negotiating a possible S-400 deal with Saudi Arabia aswell.
Russia and Saudi Arabia first signed a contract for the delivery of onebattery of the Russian-made system in March 2017, when Saudi monarch KingSalman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was on a four-day trip to Moscow.
China was the first foreign purchaser of the cutting-edge air defensesystem as part of a 2014 agreement, followed by Turkey as the second buyer.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been personally monitoringprogress on the deal.
On September 12, 2017, Russia confirmed the nearly $2.5 billion deal withAnkara for two S-400 batteries. Russia is also in talks to sell the defensesystem to India, one of the main purchasers of Russian weapons.
The S-400 Triumf (with the NATO codename Growler) entered service in 2007and is considered Russia’s most advanced long-range anti-aircraft missilesystem.
Capable of engaging targets at a distance of 400 km and at an altitude ofup to 30 km, the missile system can destroy aircraft, cruise and ballisticmissiles. It can also be used against land-based targets. The anti-aircraftweapons system is capable of simultaneously engaging up to 36 targets.