Rescued Russian pilot denies warning by Turkish jets
A Russian airman who survived the downing of his
warplane says Turkish jets did not issue any warnings. Capt. Konstantin
Murakhtin said Wednesday on Russian television that his plane was flying over
Syrian territory and didn't violate Turkish airspace.
Muravkin was rescued early Wednesday by Russian and Syrian
commando and was speaking in televised comments from the Russian Hemeimeem air
base in Syria, reports newsgrio.com.
Syrian rebels say Russian forces are pounding insurgent-held
areas in Syria's Latakia province, unleashing a wave of airstrikes on mountains
near where a Russian jet was shot down the previous day.
Jahed Ahmad, a spokesman for a rebel brigade in the region
affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, says the Russians appear to be taking
"revenge" for the plane's downing by Turkey, a key backer of the
rebels in the area.
Speaking from inside Syria via Skype on Wednesday, he says
the Russian jets were providing cover for advancing Syrian ground forces and
their Lebanese Hezbollah allies.
Syrian TV also reported advances by Syrian forces in
Lattakia province Wednesday.
3:20 p.m.
The Russian Association of Travel Agencies says several
Russian agencies have stopped selling package tours to Turkey.
Turkey, along with Egypt, has long been a top destination
for Russian tourists.
The travel industry group said in a statement Wednesday that
several major travel agencies are no longer selling tours to Turkey following
an official travel warning about a potential threat to Russian citizens there.
The move comes a day after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian
border, provoking Moscow's indignation.
Travel association vice president Dmitry Gorin was quoted by
the state-run RIA Novosti news agency as saying he expects the agencies will
have to reimburse to 6,000 tourists whose vacations will be cancelled.
2:30 p.m.
Protesters have hurled eggs and stones at the Turkish
embassy in Moscow a day after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane Tuesday near
the Syrian border.
Windows at the embassy's compound were shattered and eggs
pelted against the walls on Wednesday after a protest there went sour. Police
cleared the area and made some arrests shortly after the protest began.
All the protesters seem to have left by Wednesday late
afternoon, and the utilities services were cleaning the area.
2 p.m.
Turkey's Foreign Ministry says the foreign ministers of
Turkey and Russia have agreed to meet for talks over the downing of a Russian
warplane. Russia's foreign minister, however, said that a meeting hadn't been
confirmed.
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic said in a
written statement that Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Russian
counterpart Sergey Lavrov agreed to a meeting "in the coming days,"
during a telephone conversation Wednesday.
Bilgic said during their conversation, Cavusoglu briefed
Lavrov on Turkey's action.
The two agreed to share details on the incident through
"diplomatic and military channels."
But Lavrov said during a live TV interview that they had no
concrete plans for a meeting. Lavrov said that Cavusoglu suggested they could
meet at the sidelines of some event, but added that he has no such plans.
1:55 p.m.
Russia's foreign minister says that "terrorists"
have used Turkish territory to prepare attacks in other countries.
Sergey Lavrov didn't name specific groups or countries. He
said Wednesday that the downing of a Russian warplane on Tuesday followed
Russian airstrikes on the oil infrastructure of extremists groups in Syria near
the border with Turkey.
1:45 p.m.
Russia's foreign minister says the downing of a Russian war
plane by Turkey was a "planned provocation."
Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday that Moscow will re-consider
relations with Ankara following the shooting down of the plane on the
Turkey-Syria border on Tuesday, but he didn't say what specific measures Russia
would take.
Lavrov said "we have no intention to go to war with
Turkey."
Lavrov added that "our attitude to the Turkish people
hasn't changed. "We only have questions about the Turkish
leadership."
He also said that advice to Russian citizens to refrain from
visiting Turkey issued on Tuesday was based on extremist threats in Turkey.
1:20 p.m.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is seeking to reduce
tensions with Moscow, saying that Russia is Turkey's "friend and
neighbor" and insisting relations cannot be "sacrificed to accidents
of communication."
Davutoglu told his party's lawmakers on Wednesday that
Turkey didn't know the nationality of the plane that was brought down on
Tuesday until Moscow announced it was Russian.
He again defended Turkey's action, saying Russia was warned
on several occasions that Turkey would take action in case its border is
violated in line with its military rules of engagement.
Davutoglu also said Russia is an "important partner and
tops the list of countries with which we have shown great sensitivity in
building ties."
The Turkish prime minister, however, also criticized Russian
and Syrian operations in Syria's Turkmen region, saying there is "not one
single" presence of the Islamic State group there. Davutoglu demanded that
operations there stop immediately.
Syria's army is confirming that it has rescued a Russian
pilot whose plane was shot down by Turkey in an overnight
"qualitative" joint operation with Russian forces.
A statement issued Wednesday by the Syrian armed forces says
Syrian and Russian forces penetrated into areas where "terrorists"
are entrenched at a depth of 4.5 kilometers (2.7 miles) to rescue the pilot.
Syria's government refers to all rebels trying to topple
President Bashar Assad as terrorists.
The statement added that the rescued pilot is in "good
health."
Russian officials have confirmed the rescue operation.
The other pilot of the Su-24 jet downed Tuesday by Turkey
was reported dead and his body captured by Syrian rebels in an area known as
the Turkmen Mountain in Syria's Latakia province.
11:55 a.m.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the downing of a
Russian warplane "has further aggravated the situation in Syria."
Merkel told lawmakers in parliament on Wednesday that
"we have to do everything now to avoid a further escalation."
Merkel says she had spoken to Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu in a telephone call Tuesday.
She adds that only a long-term political solution will end
the conflict in Syria. She says "there is no other way that will bring us
closer to a lasting solution
11:20 a.m.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says a second pilot from a
Russian warplane that was shot down by Turkey near the Syrian border has been
rescued.
Putin was speaking in televised comments on Wednesday after
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Russian news agencies that the man was
rescued in a 12-hour operation which ended in the early hours on Wednesday and
is now "safe and sound" at Russia's air base in the
government-controlled area in Syria.
The other pilot of the Su-24 jet was reported dead.
11:05 a.m.
Russia's defense minister says that Moscow will send its
news anti-aircraft missiles to Syria following Turkey's downing of a Russian
warplane on Tuesday.
Russian news agencies on Wednesday quoted Sergei Shoigu as
saying that the S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems would be sent to the
Hemeimeem air base in the government-controlled area which Moscow uses for its
Air Force sorties.
S-400s were first put on active combat duty in Russia in
2007.
Shoigu's statement comes a day after Turkey shot down a
Russian Su-24 on mission near the Syria border. One of the pilots was killed by
groundfire as he parachuted from his crippled plane, the Russian general staff
said.
10:50 a.m.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his country does
not wish to escalate tensions with Russia over the downing of the plane.
Speaking at an Organization of Islamic Cooperation economy
meeting in Istanbul, Erdogan said Wednesday that Turkey favors "peace,
dialogue and diplomacy."
Erdogan however defended his country's move to shoot down
the plane saying "no one should expect Turkey to stay silent to border
violations or the violation of its rights."
Turkey said the Russian warplane was shot down on Tuesday
after it ignored repeated warnings and crossed into its airspace from Syria.
Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced what he called a
"stab in the back" and warned of "significant
consequences."
10:45 a.m.
A Syria watchdog says a Russian military pilot whose plane
was shot down by Turkey has arrived at a Russian air base in Latakia province
after being rescued by the Syrian army.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says a Syrian army
commando unit staged a rescue operation for the pilot after pinpointing his
location. It said the pilot is alive and arrived Wednesday morning at the
Hemeimeem air base, near the city of Latakia. No other details were immediately
available.
Syrian TV only quoted Russia's ambassador to France as
saying the pilot is in the hands of the Syrian army.
The Russian warplane was shot down by Turkey Tuesday. A
second pilot was killed.
9:10 a.m.
Russia's ambassador to France says a Russian military pilot
shot down over Turkey is in the hands of the Syrian army.
Ambassador Alexander Orlov said on Europe-1 radio Wednesday
that one of the pilots was wounded, then killed on the ground by
"jihadists."
He says the other "managed to escape and be rescued by
the Syrian army." He didn't elaborate.
Orlov denied Turkish government statements that the Russian
plane had been warned repeatedly about an airspace violation before shooting it
down plane.
Orlov accused Turkey of being an "accomplice" of
Islamic State extremists and playing an ambiguous role in Syria's civil war.
However he played down concerns of escalation of violence
among the international players involved in Syria.
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