MOSCOW, July 10 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia was in touch ‌with Turkey about the fate of Russian ‌S-400 missile systems which Ankara owns after a news outlet ​reported that Turkey was poised to transfer the air defence missiles to an unnamed Gulf country.

Turkish news outlet Hurriyet reported earlier on Friday that ‌Turkey could announce ⁠it would resell the S-400s to one of the Gulf nations as ⁠soon as today in order to persuade the United States to lift sanctions on Ankara.

In 2020, ​the U.S. ​sanctioned fellow NATO ​member Turkey over the ‌purchase of the S-400s and removed it from a procurement and manufacturing programme for F-35 fighter jets which Ankara wanted to be involved in.

Asked on Friday about the media report and ‌if Turkey had sought Russia's ​permission to go ahead with ​the alleged deal, ​Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said:

"I ‌can say one thing here: ​this is ​an extremely sensitive issue. However, we have been in contact with the Turkish side on ​this matter, ‌and we will continue to maintain contact ​with them on this issue."

(Reporting by Dmitry ​AntonovEditing by Andrew Osborn)