Qatar to Purchase S-400 Air Defense System from Russia

ARABIAN DEFENSE -- Qatar is sending new signals that the current regional blockade against it has still not compromised its independence. On Jan. 25, Qatar's ambassador to Russia, Fahad bin Mohammed al-Attiya, told Russia's Tass news agency that his country was in "advanced" talks to buy Russia's S-400 air defense system.

The comments were widely published in Qatari media and have received acclaim from many prominent Qatari Twitter users.

From a military perspective, the S-400 system is not particularly critical for Qatar. The U.S. air base at al-Udeid has long been the country's main security guarantor, and the new base that Turkey established in Qatar in the wake of the blockade, which began in June, offered an additional military boost.

The S-400, while useful for giving Qatar an advanced air defense system to address recent air space violations, is more than anything a diplomatic move.

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Arabian Defense, an aggregator for Arabian defense news.