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Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that Türkiye's S-400 talks are continuing "with everyone" but gave no timeline for concluding them, hours after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Ankara had not asked Moscow about transferring the systems.
"When it concludes, we will share it with the public anyway," Fidan told Turkish journalist Bahar Feyzan on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, in remarks she posted on X.
Türkiye bought four S-400 battalions from Russia in 2017 for $2.5 billion, a deal that led Washington to remove Ankara from the F-35 program and impose sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
Under the contract's end-user terms, any transfer abroad requires Russia's consent.
The Turkish journalist asked Turkish FM Fidan whether Lavrov had just said the S-400s could be discussed if Türkiye applied and that Moscow appeared to be waiting for an official request.
"Who said we're not talking?" Fidan replied.
Asked when Ankara planned to apply officially, he said: "Our talks are continuing, friends. Our talks are continuing with everyone."
Asked whether a transfer to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was certain, given Lavrov's condition that the third country not sell weapons to Ukraine, Fidan said: "As I said, our talks on this issue are continuing, dear friends."
Asked whether the talks could conclude by the end of the year, he said, "I don't know. I'm not in a position to say anything."
Russian top diplomat Lavrov said Moscow could approve moving the systems to a third country under strict conditions.
"There are such possibilities, exclusively with our consent, when the country to which these S-400 systems may be sent will be responsible and will be in friendly relations with the Russian Federation, so that we know firmly that these systems will not go anywhere from that country," he said.
He accused European countries of buying weapons from other nations and passing them to Ukraine despite guarantees.
"We will be ready to transfer the S-400 to such a country when there is an appeal that will guarantee not to allow such violations," Lavrov noted.
Asked by CNBC-e whether the UAE was a possible destination, Lavrov said Russia was not currently weighing specific options, adding Russia has no reason to doubt the sincerity of its Turkish partners, though not all past agreements with Ankara were fulfilled as planned.
Lavrov told a press conference Saturday, at the close of the U.N. General Assembly's high-level week, that Türkiye had not requested Russia.
"There was no such request to us," Lavrov said.
"Our Turkish friends know very well that the S-400 systems were delivered together with a contract that provides for full and complete respect for the end-user certificate. They know very well that if they ever want to move these systems somewhere beyond their borders, they cannot do so without our official consent," he said.
A Hurriyet columnist reported on July 10 that the S-400s were being sold to a Gulf country, which Turkish media later identified as the UAE, but no official confirmation has followed.
A separate Turkish media report said Israeli pressure on the UAE had stalled the purchase, a claim that has not been officially confirmed.
U.S. Ambassador to Türkiye Tom Barrack said this week that resolving the S-400 issue will take time, calling for defense cooperation between Ankara and Washington essential.
"The ball is in many courts," Barrack said.
The Turkish foreign minister had said in August that the decision to lift CAATSA sanctions had "effectively already been made," following momentum from the NATO summit in Ankara in July.
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