November 24, 2015
President Vladimir Putin called Turkey's downing of a Russian fighter jet "a stab in the back" carried out by the accomplices of terrorists, saying the incident would have serious consequences for Moscow's relations with Ankara.
November 24, 2015
President Vladimir Putin called Turkey's downing of a Russian fighter jet "a stab in the back" carried out by the accomplices of terrorists, saying the incident would have serious consequences for Moscow's relations with Ankara.
Speaking in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi before a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah, Putin said the downed plane, which Turkey said it had repeatedly warned, had been attacked inside Syria when it was 1 kilometer from the Turkish border and had come down 4 kilometers inside Syria.
The incident happened after it reportedly entered Turkish airspace increasing tensions between the two countries.
State-run Turkish news service Anadolu Agency said that the downed warplane was a Russian-made SU-24 and had been engaged by two Turkish F16 jets. It said the plane had been downed in line with Turkey's rules of engagement after violating Ankara's airspace.
President Tayyip Erdogan has been briefed by the head of the military and will talk to Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Reuters reported.
However, Russia's defense ministry rejected Turkey's version of events, saying the downed fighter jet had not violated Turkish airspace. It said in a statement that the plane had been flying at an altitude of 6,000 meters and was "supposedly shot down from the ground." It emphasized that the plane was within Syrian airspace.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the downing of the SU-24 a "very serious incident" but said it was too early to draw conclusions, Reuters reported.
Footage from Turkey's Anadolu Agency showed two pilots parachuting out of the jet before it crashed. The fate of the pilots remains unknown but Associated Press, quoting an anti-Assad rebel spokesperson, said one of the pilots had died. Broadcast media has shown footage of Russian helicopters above the crash site.
Turkey is a member of the military alliance NATO which has said it is ready to defend Turkey if Russia violated its airspace, the BBC reported.
A NATO official told CNBC that the organization was closely monitoring the situation and was in touch with the Turkish authorities but was not planning to make any statement imminently.
However, Turkey is due to brief NATO ambassadors about the events surrounding the incident at 16:00 London time, Reuters reported. It is the first time a NATO member has downed a Russian or Soviet military aircraft since the 1950s, the news agency added.
The incident is set to increase tensions between Russia and Turkey who are both carrying out airstrikes in Syria as part of an alliance fighting the terrorist group that calls itself Islamic State.
Defense consultant Paul Beaver told CNBC that the downing of the jet was an incident that had been "waiting to happen."
"The Russians are very cavalier in the way they operate their aircraft," he told CNBC Tuesday. "Traditionally, they've always been less than scrupulous in terms of air traffic management. Given that, I feel that this incident was inevitable."
Beaver added that he had been informed by a source, who he declined to name, that the Russian jet was attacking an anti-Assad group that was backed by Turkey.CNBC was unable to reach the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment.
Both Russia and its ally, Syria's government, have carried out strikes in the area.
Turkish F16s warned the jet over the airspace violations before shooting it down, the military official told Reuters.
Footage from private broadcaster Haberturk TV showed a warplane going down in flames in a woodland area, a long plume of smoke trailing behind it. The plane went down in area known by Turks as "Turkmen Mountain" in northern Syria near the Turkish border, Haberturk said.
The next big issue is what the Russia's reaction could be to the shooting down of one of its aircraft. Beaver, who also advises the U.K. government on defense matters, said that NATO doesn't necessarily have a role to play unless Turkey asks it to.
"The Russian reaction will depend on what has happened to the air crew involved. If they're unharmed it should be fine. If they are harmed, then Russia's reaction will be hard and heavy."
Courtesy: CNBC/Reuters
