The surviving pilot of the Su-24 bomber said earlier that no warning had been given in the incident Tuesday and the aircraft did not violate the Turkish air space, although Turkey insists that it gave 10 warnings in five minutes. “It’s very sad to see all of it being destroyed so thoughtlessly and brutally”. Both are populist, frequently crack down on critics and often revert to anti-Western rhetoric.
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Turkey on Wednesday released what it said was an audio recording of a warning it sent to the plane.
Russian authorities have begun to turn away vehicles with Turkish license plates at a border crossing with the Caucasus nation of Georgia, the Georgian government said Thursday. It was not clear if Russian replies were received but not released by the Turkish government, or if the Russian pilots never replied to the warnings or if they never heard the warnings.
Turkey believes Russian planes have bombed moderate opposition including Turkmens.
“We must all work to make sure that the situation (between Russian Federation and Turkey) de-escalates”, Hollande told a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “If they prove it, Tayyip Erdogan would step down”. “There may be elements of corruption and insider deals”.
The downing of the jet on Tuesday was one of the most serious publicly acknowledged clashes between a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member and Russian Federation for half a century, and further complicated global efforts to battle Islamic State militants in Syria. A post on the Russian Defense Ministry’s Facebook page showed an S-400 missile system being unloaded from a Russian cargo plane.
There is little sign it wants a military escalation, or to jeopardize its main objective in the region: to rally global support for its view on how the conflict in Syria should be resolved.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defence Ministry ADMITTED that an SU-30 fighter aircraft had entered Turkish airspace along the border with Syria “for a few seconds” on October 3.
In addition to the military moves, the Kremlin also acted Thursday to inflict economic pain on Turkey. Hundreds of Turkish trucks are reportedly stuck in the neutral zone between Russian Federation and Georgia as a result. He said he hoped to get the sanctions drafted within the next two days. Russian Federation is the largest destination for Turkey’s exports, and the two countries are bound by plans for a new gas pipeline and strong trade in food and tourism. He added, however, that Russian Federation does not intend to go to war over the incident, reported The Telegraph. “We are strategic partners”, he said.
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In addition, Russia’s state-run consumer protection body said it had concerns about the quality and safety of children’s clothing, furniture and cleaning products originating from Turkey.
