Turkey has supported “moderate” rebel groups fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, with many Turkmen – ethnic cousins of the Turks – fighting alongside rebels.
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Moscow’s relations with Turkey have been badly strained over the downing of the jet. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Wednesday that Russian aircraft from the Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia could reach any target in Syria within 40 minutes, which means there is no need to have any additional air bases.
Russian Federation has carried out its air campaign in Syria since September 30. He said that Russian Federation was also helping some units of the opposition Free Syrian Army, which were fighting “terrorists” in Syria, providing air cover and supplying them with weapons.
Japan is keen to use Abe’s talks with Putin – possibly taking place just before Japan hosts the Group of Seven summit in May in Mie Prefecture – to demonstrate to the worldwide community that it can play the role of mediator between Russian Federation, and the United States and European nations, the sources said.
During the encounter broadcast on state television Sergei Shoigu said Calibre missiles were launched from the Rostov-on-Don submarine in the Mediterranean.
“Whatever we learn won’t change our attitude to what the Turkish authorities did”, he said.
The intervention has had unintended consequences, notably when Turkey shot down the jet, saying it had strayed into Turkish airspace, an allegation Russian Federation denies.
Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea previous 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”.
Cameron, whose country last week launched its own bombing campaign in Syria, expressed condolences over the downing, the Kremlin said in a statement.
The spokesman added: “They also agreed on the need to cut off terrorist financing and the Prime Minister highlighted that the UK’s first airstrikes in Syria had targeted oil fields that Daesh is plundering to fund its brutal activities”.
Meeting in the Kremlin with Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, who reported the latest results of the anti-Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) ops in Syria, the Russian president made a notable remark, RT reports.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s initial reaction was to implement sanctions against Turkey in an attempt to hurt its economy.
