Turkey To Hand Over Body Of Dead Russian Pilot To Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday called for sanctions against Turkey including bans on some Turkish goods and extensions on work contracts for Turks working in Russia.

Davutoglu added that a Russian official would travel “soon” to the southern Hatay region with a Turkish military official to take possession of the body.

In Paris for the United Nations climate change summit, Mr Putin today told reporters he suspected Turkey had deliberately downed the plane to protect its oil interests. “There is no discussion of such a meeting”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

The Russian air force said Monday that its Su-34 fighter-bombers in Syria were now armed with air-to-air missiles.

“Russia has not given permission to Turkish trucks for entry or transit passage for the past four days”, Fatih Sener, managing director of Turkey’s International Shippers Association (UND) said in an interview.

Moscow announced it will halt fruit and vegetable imports from Turkey after Putin signed a decree over the weekend banning charter flights and the sale of package holidays, and scrapping Russia’s visa-free regime with the country.

The authorities however stopped short of targeting Russia’s major joint energy projects with Turkey. He was identified as Lt. Col. Oleg Peshkov.

Turkey shot down the plane on Tuesday after it entered its airspace from Syria, ignoring several warnings.

The remains of the Russian pilot in the military jet that was shot down last week has been flown to Moscow, capital of Russia.

Another pilot in the plane, Capt Konstantin Murakhtin, survived and was rescued from rebel-held territory in Syria in a special forces operation.

Local reports said Peshkov will be buried Wednesday in his hometown Lipetsk, an industrial city in central Russian Federation.

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Turkey’s prime minister dismissed on Monday any suggestion Ankara should apologise for downing a Russian warplane in its airspace last week, after winning strong North Atlantic Treaty Organisation support for the right to defend itself. The two sides differ in their versions of events, notably over where the Russian bomber was when it was hit. It must be remembered, though, that Turkey did not notify North Atlantic Treaty Organisation of its action, which it is compelled to do as a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member. Government bonds advanced for a second day.