Russia protest to Turkey over downing of Su-24 bomber
Russia has raised an official protest to Turkey’s military
attache over its attack on a Russian Su-24 bomber in Syria, the press service
of the Russian defense ministry said on Tuesday.
"The Russian defense ministry urgently summoned the
Turkish embassy’s military attache to present an official protest over the
actions of the Turkish air force," the ministry said, reports Tass.
The Russian Defense Ministry considers the attack of Turkish
fighter jets on the Russian Su-24 bomber "an unfriendly act", the
ministry’s press service noted, adding that attempts of the ministry’s
specialists to establish hotline contact with the Turkish side were not
successful.
A Russian Su-24 frontline bomber was downed by an air-to-air
missile launched from a Turkish F-16 fighter jet when it was returning from an
anti-terrorist mission to the Hmeymim airbase in Syria.
The warplane was at an altitude of 6,000 meters at a
distance on one kilometer from the Turkish border. The Defense Ministry said
earlier that pilots had managed to eject from the aircraft. Their whereabouts
were being established.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s General Staff said the Russian warplane
had violated its airspace and was downed by a fighter jet. According to the
Turkish side, the crew of the Russian plane had been issued ten warnings in
five minutes. The Russian defense ministry refuted these allegations citing
objective monitoring data that "clearly demonstrated that Turkey’s
airspace had not been violated."
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the downed Su-24 was
no threat to Turkey as it was on a mission to bomb Islamic State targets.
"It was a stab in the back," Putin said.
The Russian president warned that attack on the Russian
warplane would have "serious consequences" for the Russian-Turkish
relations.
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