The Russian Foreign Ministry has denied Turkish accusations that Russia is conducting ethnic cleansing in Syria, saying they are groundless and demonstrate Ankara’s detachment from reality.
Advertisement
Davutoglu also renewed a call for the creation of a safe zone in Syria “so that new waves (of refugees) will not come”.
Russia’s deputy defence minister discussed Syria on Thursday with a delegation of British defence officials, Moscow said in a statement, a day after the two leaders discussed cooperation in the war-torn country.
RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY Putin noted that the new cruise missile can be equipped with both conventional and nuclear warheads.
The incident briefly sparked concern that Russian retaliation would lead to war, but the leadership in Moscow, while plainly furious, said that it would retaliate through economic rather than military means.
“They want to expel them, they want to ethnically cleanse this area so that the regime and Russian bases in Latakia and Tartus are protected”.
Turkey on December 9 insisted it was not dependent on Russian Federation to build its first nuclear power plant amid uncertainty over the $20 billion project because of the crisis in relations between Ankara and Moscow. But the win was clouded by the poor performance of Russian ground and air forces in what hadturned out to be a far messier and bloodier campaign than the Kremlin envisioned.
Shoigu said the United States and Israel were informed before the strikes were launched.
The Prime Minister also said he would consider Mr Putin’s request for British experts to analyse data from the black box of a Russian warplane downed by Turkey near its border with Syria.
Turkey is an important North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally, yet it has allowed what amounts to open trade and movement across its borders to jihadis in Syria and Iraq.
Then there are its advanced surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missile systems that began turning up last month, after Turkey shot down a Russian jet that it said violated Turkish airspace.
Even before President Vladmir Putin’s nuclear-themed rhetoric, Russia’s involvement in Syria had already become the source of increased geopolitical tension.
Russia recently criticised Britain for suggesting that a bomb caused the crash of a Russian passenger plane over Sinai in October before the investigation was completed.
But the expensive arms buildup faces major hurdles as Russia’s economy sinks under the weight of Western sanctions and tumbling oil prices.
Critics have accused the Kremlin of spending taxpayer money on the bombing operation against Islamic State militants in Syria while the budget is scheduled to run a 3 percent deficit next year.
Advertisement
Russia’s air campaign has been taking place since 30 September.
