Russia blames Israel over downed plane
‘ISRAEL USED AIRCRAFT AS SHIELD AND PUSHED IT INTO LINE OF SYRIAN FIRE’
President Vladimir Putin sought to lower tensions after a Russian reconnaissance plane was downed mistakenly by Syrian regime forces fighting off an attack by Israeli regime warplanes even as his Defence Ministry warned it may respond to “hostile” actions by Israel.
The incident was the result of “a chain of tragic coincidences” and can’t be compared to a 2015 episode in which Turkey downed a Russian warplane, sparking a year-long breach in ties, Putin told a briefing in Moscow yesterday. “The Israeli plane didn’t shoot down our plane,” Putin said. The Russian leader said his country will bolster security at its bases in Syria.
The plane’s loss came a day after Russia called off a campaign against the last major opposition-held area in Syria, preventing for now an escalation in the seven-year war, after Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan reached a deal.
The Russian military said the Il-20 electronic intelligence plane was hit 35km offshore late Monday as it was returning to its home base nearby. “The Israeli pilots were using the Russian aircraft as a shield and pushed it into the line of fire of the Syrian defence,” said Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu called his Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman, later yesterday to say that Israel is “fully to blame” for the deaths, the ministry said.
In Moscow, amid the anger, there were expectations the fallout may be minimised. Russia and the Israeli regime “have a lot of common interests, especially in Syria,” said Andrei Kortunov, head of the Russian International Affairs Council. Moscow said a recovery operation located the plane’s wreckage at sea and has retrieved some bodies and some fragments from the plane.
For several years, the Israeli regime and Russia have maintained a special hotline to prevent their air forces from clashing in the skies over Syria.
Russia’s Defence Ministry says one of its reconnaissance aircraft with 15 people on board was brought down by a Syrian surface-to-air missile over the Mediterranean Sea