Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described it as a planned act and said it would affect efforts towards a political solution in Syria.
Advertisement
On Nov. 25, Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that its Russian SU-24 fighter jet had been shot down, which crashed in the Syrian region of Bayirbucak close to Yayladagi district of southern Hatay province.
But the Russian response was carefully calibrated, indicating Moscow did not want to jeopardise its main objective in the region: to rally global support for its view on how the conflict in Syria should be resolved.
“For us, Turkey was not just a neighbor, but a friendly state, nearly an ally”, he said. Erdogan also said Ankara had no intention of escalating tensions with Russian Federation.
The latest developments regarding the war in Syria.
“We will exchange information about whom to hit and whom not to hit”, Hollande told a joint news conference with Putin.
“What we agreed, and this is important, is to strike only terrorists and Daesh (Islamic State) and to not strike forces that are fighting terrorism”.
Mr Putin added that from now on Russian Federation will protect its warplanes with the long-range S-400 air defence missiles deployed at its air base in Syria.
“I think if there is a party that needs to apologize, it is not us”, he said.
Asked if Turkey would still have targeted the plane if it positively knew it was Russian, he said: “If we had determined it, the warnings would have been different”.
Russian authorities will review the issue of imposing a ban to the operations of Turkish companies in the country, RIA Novosti quoted Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as saying November 26.
Both pilots managed to eject but the second pilot was killed by ground fire from rebels as he parachuted into Syria.
Turkey also Thursday summoned the Russian ambassador to Ankara over a violent demonstration outside its embassy in Moscow over the jet downing.
A voice is heard saying in broken English: “This is Turkish Air Force speaking on guard”.
The Turkish military said it had explained the rules of engagement that led to the downing of the jet to Russian military attaches and had tried to rescue the pilots.
Advertisement
He said Russia’s restrictive measures against Turkey will be open-ended.
