Reports indicate that one of the two pilots was killed by ground fire after ejecting from the plane, while the Syrian army has claimed to have rescued the second pilot.
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It could pause or significantly limit the operations of its air forces in the vicinity of the Turkish-Syrian border, perhaps with the exception of the military actions against the group(s) which targeted the Russian pilots and the rescue effort, which seems inevitable.
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said Syrian and Russian special forces were involved in the operation to rescue the navigator. The incident inflamed tensions between Turkey and Russia, and Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of “significant consequences”.
On Wednesday, the Kremlin said Moscow would dispatch an S-400 air defense system to bolster its Khmeimim air base in Syria’s Latakia province, an advanced weapons system that can be used to shoot down planes at long distance.
The Turkish Air Force shot down the Russian military planes SU-24 in its airspace November 24.
Murakhtin, speaking in televised remarks from the Russian base in Syria where he was taken Wednesday, said he was fully confident their plane didn’t veer into the Turkish airspace, “not even for a single second”.
With regards to other areas where the armed forces operate in close proximity of each other, uniform procedures must be put in place to manage any incidents. He said that his ministry has severed all contacts with the Turkish military.
On Tuesday, Turkey shot down the warplane it said had strayed onto its territory.
There was no sign Russian Federation wanted a military escalation, or to jeopardize its main objective in the region: to rally worldwide support for its view on how the conflict in Syria should be resolved.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke to US Secretary of State John Kerry by phone on Wednesday, according to Russia’s Foreign Ministry.
One Russian pilot was killed by militants on the ground after bailing out, but another crew member was rescued in good condition by Syrian commandos. Following a rescue mission this pilot has been returned to a Russian airbase.
Ankara and Moscow are already on starkly opposing sides in the four-year Syrian civil war, with Turkey wanting to see the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad while Russian Federation is one of his last remaining allies.
Toner also added that Turkmens were actually have every right to defend themselves in case being attacked by these Russian strikes.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is seeking to reduce tensions with Moscow, saying that Russian Federation is Turkey’s “friend and neighbor” and insisting relations can not be “sacrificed to accidents of communication”. While there is no evidence of it explicitly supporting the IS, fighting it is not a priority for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “(Russia’s) operations will continue without doubt”, he said.
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President Putin’s phrase leapt from the front pages of Russian newspapers on Wednesday morning, along with furious commentary on Turkey’s downing of a Russian fighter plane.
