“It seems that the Turkish leadership is deliberately driving relations (between Russian Federation and Turkey) into a dead end”, Putin said at the Kremlin ambassador credentials ceremony.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced honouring the courageous soldiers affected by the incident with rewards. Almost five million Russian tourists visited Turkey in 2014.
He said he regrets the Turkish authorities “thoughtlessly and stupidly” destroyed an unprecedented level of cooperation with Russian Federation reached for the past 10 years.
Moscow banned food imports and removed thousands of European Union products from Russian shops after Brussels passed sanctions for the annexation of Crimea previous year.
Mr Shoigu also said that Russian Federation is sending its most hi-tech air defence system to its air base in Syria to help bolster its firepower.
Two groups that monitor the conflict – the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees – said the airstrikes hit a road linking the border town of Azaz with the Bab al-Salameh border crossing with Turkey.
Turkey released an audio recording on Wednesday of what it says are the warnings given to a Russian plane before Turkish F-16s shot it down for allegedly straying into Turkey’s airspace.
The Russian military will provide aerial cover by fighter jets for every airstrike against Daesh in Syria, it will boost air defence by deploying the guided missile cruisers off the Latakia coast, and suspend all military-to-military contacts with Turkey.
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In a statement issued Wednesday, the Turkish military said the defense and army attaches of the Russian embassy visited the headquarters in Ankara on Tuesday and Wednesday. “If the same violation happened again today, Turkey would respond once again in the same manner”. The second pilot, identified as Captain Konstantin Murkahtin, was rescued by Russian and Syrian forces. Moscow however insists that the plane never strayed from Syrian air space. He denied claims that the jet violated Turkish airspace and warnings were given.
