Turkish riot police outside the Russian consulate in Istanbul on Tuesday.
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Putin branded the shooting down of the aircraft a “stab in the back committed by accomplices of terrorists”.
The downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey will have “tragic consequences” for ties between the two countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.
The Turkish military said the aircraft had been warned 10 times in the space of five minutes about violating Turkish air space.
The fighter jet exploded in mid-air, crashing in a fireball onto a mountain on the Syrian side of the border, television pictures showed.
“Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed that its Russian SU-24 fighter jet has been shot down”.
“The fact that Turkey did not try to contact Russian Federation in the wake of the incident and rushed to call a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation meeting instead is worrisome”.
According to The Associated Press, Putin went on to say that there would be “significant consequences”.
According to Turkish authorities, the intruder was engaged by an air-to-air missile fired by an F-16 after ignoring repeated, internationally-recognized signs to identify itself and turn back.
The warplane was shot down in Syria’s northwestern Turkmen town of Bayirbucak near Turkey’s border within the framework of engagement rules, the Turkish military added. Ankara claims Turkish F-16s shot down the plane because it violated the country’s airspace.
US-led coalition spokesman Colonel Steve Warren has said that it was not yet clear which side the Russian plane was on when shot.
Around 1,700 people have fled the mountainous Syrian area to the Turkish border as a result of fighting in the last three days, a Turkish official said on Monday.
Meanwhile, Russian Federation has summoned the Turkish military attache in Moscow while Ankara summoned Moscow’s charge d’affaires to the foreign ministry.
The Liberal government is moving cautiously after hearing of the downing of a Russian jet by Turkey. Their fate was uncertain, with reports one had been killed by rebels.
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“The incident highlights heightened friction in Syria’s increasingly crowded airspace, which now includes Russian warplanes that are targeting the armed opposition of President Bashar al-Assad’s embattled forces”.
