Turkey has summoned the Russian ambassador after a serviceman on a Russian naval ship allegedly brandished a rocket launcher while the vessel passed through Istanbul at the weekend. The soldier was pictured holding what appears to be a ground-to-air missile launcher in a shooting position, in images published in the Turkish media, causing a furious reaction from Turkey’s top diplomat Mevlut Cavusoglu.
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“Our expectation that such acts, which are against the spirit of global laws and not directly related to the passage (of the ship) itself, will not be repeated, has been emphasised”.
The pictures showed the Russian serviceman on board the Caesar Kunikov as it passed through the Bosphorus strait.
“The ship’s passage in such a way was an openly provocative passage. This has to come to an end”, Cavusoglu told Kanal 24 television on Monday.
Addressing concerns over possible natural gas shortages, Erdogan said Turkey can also use its renewable energy resources.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that Ankara could find alternatives to Russian oil and gas, as bilateral tensions escalated over the downing of a Russian warplane. “I don’t trust Russian Federation, but if Russian Federation is willing to help us kill some of these savages, then I’m more than willing to at least recognize that on this issue – maybe not on much else – but on this issue they are with us not against us”. The diplomatic fallout has seen Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government place a number of economic sanctions on Turkey.
