Russia says ‘misled’ by Israel in plane downing over Syria

MOSCOW: Russia’s military on Sunday blamed “misleading” information from the Israeli airforce for the downing of one of its planes in Syria last week, and denounced the “adventurism” of Israeli pilots.

Israel strongly disputed the assertion and vowed it will continue to act against targets in neighbouring Syria.

A Syrian air defence missile downed the Russian Ilyushin Il20 military plane on September 17, killing all 15 soldiers aboard and threatening to damage relations between Russia and Israel, which three years ago set up a hotline to avoid accidental clashes in Syria.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to seek to move past the incident in spite of strong statements from the Russian military.

On Sunday, military spokesman Igor Konashenkov presented the investigation.

Moscow has accused Israel’s fighter pilots of using the bigger Ilyushin as cover, causing Syria’s Soviet-era S-200 air defence system to interpret the Russian plane as a target.

Israel denied this version of events and its air force commander flew to Moscow following the incident, which Putin called the result of a “chain of tragic accidental circumstances.” results of an

The ‘adventurism’ of the Israeli military could have endangered civilian planes which use the same airspace to land at the nearby Hmeimim aerodrome