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Turkey’s Davutoglu accuses Russia of wanting ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Syria

Davutoglu said just 10% of Russia’s strikes in Syria targeted Isis whereas 90% targeted “moderate forces” opposed both to Assad and the jihadists.

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Both Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin have made a series of angry and insulting statements about the downing of the Russian plane.

The incident has sparked escalating tensions between Turkey and Russian Federation.

Mrs Zakharova also continued Russia’s war of words with Turkey after a fighter jet attacking Syria was shot down by Turkish forces, claiming that the Su-24 plane was in its airspace.

“We’ve been registering the missiles launches, flights and, of course, they’re hitting the targets”, Shoigu said.

Russian President, Vladimir Putin, gives his annual state of the nation address in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015.

Davutoglu said: “Russia is trying to make ethnic cleansing in northern Latakia”.

“They want to expel them, they want to ethnically cleanse this area so that the regime [of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad] and Russian bases in Latakia and Tartus are protected”, he added.

British warplanes began bombing Islamic State group targets in Syria last week, and Downing St. said Cameron and Putin “agreed that the United Kingdom and Russian Federation should work together” to tackle the militant group and push a peace process for Syria.

The meeting will focus on efforts to forge a political transition and on the “framework and the architecture for a cease-fire”, said State Department spokesman John Kirby.

As noted by Fox News, Russia launched a major strike on Tuesday against Raqqa, the capital of the purported ISIS caliphate.

Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea past year, Hodges said Russia maintains a force of approximately 25,000 troops there, and said that while he did not see any imminent offensive on eastern Ukraine by the Russian military, they still maintain a capability in the region to mount an offensive on “short notice”.

“We must analyze everything happening on the battlefield, how the weapons operate”, Putin said in comments published by Russia Today.

A US-led worldwide coalition has been carrying out a campaign against Daesh, a group outlawed in a number of countries including Russian Federation, in Syria since 2014. Three strikes were carried out in Syria and 22 in Iraq on Wednesday.

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Russia has announced wide-ranging sanctions against Turkey, including an import ban on Turkish fruit and vegetables, and prohibited Russians from going on package holidays there.

According to Kommersant John Kerry had asked to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and the request was granted. Source Reuters