Turkey’s downing of the Russian military jet Tuesday, the first time in half a century that a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member shot down a Russian plane, has drawn a harsh response from Moscow. The hapless “Erdogan” was made of straw, and identifiable by a print-out photograph attached to its head.
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Denying the allegations, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the incident a “stab in the back”, and warned of serious consequences for bilateral relations.
He told CNN Russia, not Turkey, should be the one to apologise for the incident.
“[Our planes] have identification signs and these are well visible”, Putin said.
Speaking after a working dinner in the Kremlin with Putin, Hollande said they had agreed to target only Islamic State and similar jihadi groups in Syria.
“I would like to meet (Putin) face to face in Paris”, Erdogan said in a televised speech.
On Wednesday evening, Turkey’s state-run news agency, Anadolu, reported that Russian airstrikes targeted Turkish aid vehicles in the Syrian border town of Azzaz, killing at least seven drivers.
His statements echo President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s earlier statements in which he said the Turkish military would have acted differently if it had known it was a Russian jet.
“We agreed that shortly we will coordinate both on a bilateral basis and with the U.S.-led coalition”, Putin said in a joint press conference at the Kremlin.
Although Putin is ready to work with France, the USA and others in the united front against ISIS, the Russian leader insisted that the US should have had a hand in preventing Turkey from gunning down the Russian Su-24 military plane.
The Turkish leader said he didn’t want tensions with Moscow.
Also Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced the cancellation of visa-free travel between the two countries, stating that Turkey’s government had “crossed the line of what’s acceptable”.
Russian Federation has already warned its nationals against visiting Turkey and stepped up controls of Turkish agricultural imports.
The S-400 has been sent to Russia’s Khmeimim airbase, near Latakia, in case of further attacks from Turkey, said Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.
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He also said Turkey had not given assurances that “the culprits of the crime” will be punished.
