‘Turkey gave no warning’ – downed Russian pilot

Russian President Vladimir Putin has bitterly condemned the downing of a Russian jet on the Turkey-Syria border. He described it as a “stab in the back” committed by “accomplices of terrorists”. Turkey says its jets shot at the plane after warning that it was violating Turkish airspace. But Moscow says it never strayed from Syrian […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has bitterly condemned the downing of a Russian jet on the Turkey-Syria border.
He described it as a “stab in the back” committed by “accomplices of terrorists”.
Turkey says its jets shot at the plane after warning that it was violating Turkish airspace. But Moscow says it never strayed from Syrian airspace.
NATO is to meet over the incident at Turkey’s request.
Mr Putin warned there would be “serious consequences” for Moscow’s relations with Turkey.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said he was cancelling his visit to Turkey, where he was due on Wednesday, over the incident.
He also advised Russians not to visit Turkey and said the threat of terrorism there was the no less than in Egypt, where a bomb attack brought down a Russian passenger plane last month.
He said the Su-24 was hit by air-to-air missiles fired by Turkish F-16s while it was flying over Syrian territory.
President Putin said the plane had been attacked “at a height of 6,000 metres, 1km from the border”. It crashed into Syrian territory 4km from the border, he added.