China may become first importer of Russian S-400 missile systems

China may become the first importer of new Russian S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missiles systems, a top official at the Russian government’s arms trade agency said on Wednesday.
The S-400 has aroused wide-scale interest abroad, Vyacheslav Dzirkaln, deputy director of the Federal Service for Military Technological Cooperation, told Interfax-AVN at the current IDEX international arms show in the United Arab Emirates.
“There has traditionally been great interest in our surface-to-air missile systems among foreign countries. As regards the cutting-edge S-400 Triumf systems, we will most likely be talking in earnest about exporting them when we have satisfied our domestic needs, in other words, when we have supplied the Russian army with them,” Dzirkaln said.

The S-400 is relatively expensive, and not every country can afford to buy it, he said. “I can’t exclude the possibility that China will be the first foreign country to buy such systems,” Dzirkaln said.