Russia is unlikely to change its mission in Syria as a result, Russian analysts said, and will seek to punish Turkey on the ground there. The military also moved the navy missile cruiser Moskva closer to the shore to help protect Russian warplanes with its long-range Fort air defense system. The Observatory says the warplanes that carried out Thursday’s airstrikes were Russian. “The Ministry of Defence would like to stress that the plane was over the Syrian territory throughout the flight”.
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Hundreds of trucks drivers wait tensely near the Öncüpınar border gate with Syria in southern Kilis province after seven people were killed and 10 were wounded in Russian strikes that hit a convoy taking supplies to refugees in the Azaz area of Halep province in Syria on Wednesday.
“We see as absolutely unexplainable the treacherous stabs in the back from those we had seen as our partners and allies in the anti-terrorist struggle”. Protesters in Moscow pelted the Turkish embassy with eggs and rocks, shattering windows.
Meanwhile, Putin vowed to protect its forces in Syria from any kind of threat, whereas Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged to defend its borders from unwanted entrants.
He said: “Faced with the same violation today, Turkey would give the same response”.
Turkey believes Russian planes have bombed moderate opposition including Turkmens.
Putin has dismissed Turkey’s claim that the Russian warplane intruded its airspace, voicing particular annoyance about Ankara turning to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation instead of speaking to Russia, “as if it were us who shot down a Turkish plane”.
Following an extraordinary meeting of the alliance called by Ankara, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg urged both sides to try to calm the crisis between the two rival players in the Syrian conflict.
According to the Associated Press, the recordings were hard to understand.
He called for “calm and de-escalation, and renewed contacts between Moscow and Ankara”.
Spokesman Will Stevens said the memorandum signed by US and Russian military officials in late October only applied to the safety of U.S.-led coalition aircraft and Russian aircraft within Syrian airspace, the report said.
The surviving pilot was quoted by Russian agencies as saying the crew “knew the region like the back of their hand”, that they did not fly over Turkish air space, and that there were no visual or radio warnings from Turkey.
Federation, told Taraf newpaper Wednesday that a decline in Russian tourists visiting Turkey would be a “disaster” for the tourism sector.
A gas pipeline and the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, in which Russian Federation and Turkey have jointly invested, could also be targeted, Economic Development Minister Alexey Ulyukaev said in a tweet.
“The issue of preparing these years is now being considered”, he said. It also is the largest destination for Turkish exports, mostly textiles and food, and Turkish construction companies have won a sizable niche of the Russian market.
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Russian Federation made clear it could target Turkey economically. “They are going to Turkey day and night”.
