Russia accuses Turkey of ‘planned provocation’

MOSCOW – Russia accused Turkey of “planned provocation” over the downing of a Russian warplane on the Syrian border.

Moscow said one of the pilots was killed by fire from the ground after parachuting out of the burning plane on Tuesday, while the second had been taken to safety by the Syrian army.

The Defense Ministry said a Russian soldier was also killed when a helicopter search-and-rescue operation came under fire, although others were evacuated.

Turkey said the Russian plane had violated its airspace 10 times within a five-minute period.

The Turkish military released a map it said showed the Russian plane transiting a narrow finger of Turkish land about three km wide.

A second Russian plane also violated the country’s airspace, Turkish officials said, but it was not shot down.

Turkey has released audio recordings of what it said are the Turkish military’s warnings to the pilot of the Russian plane that was shot down at the border with Syria. The recordings made available to The

Associated Press on Thursday indicate that the plane was warned several times that it was approaching Turkey’s airspace and asked to change course.

The voice is heard saying: “This is Turkish Air Force speaking on guard. You are approaching Turkish airspace. Change your heading south immediately.”

Russia insisted that its jet never crossed into Turkey’s airspace and that Turkey never warned the Russian bomber.

However, the US military confirmed that Turkish pilots had warned the Russian pilot 10 times, but that Russia ignored the warnings.

The attack appeared to be “an ambush,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters yesterday in Moscow. “It looks very much like a planned provocation,” he said.

But Turkish officials said they did not know the plane was Russian when they fired on it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country “will have to respond to” any future air incidents. “We are taking this incident in the most serious possible way and all means will be used to ensure security,” he said yesterday.

Russia also warned of economic consequences from the conflict.

Turkish companies – which are active in everything from construction to retailing – may lose their position in the Russian market and important joint projects may be halted because of the breach in “longstanding neighborly relations,” Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said.

Following an extraordinary meeting of the alliance on Tuesday, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said “diplomacy and de-escalation are important to resolve this situation.”

He also called Russia’s Syrian campaign “misguided” because it is not targeting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ( ISIS) terrorist group. “It is important that all of us, also Russia, are guided by the overarching goal of defeating ISIL,” Stoltenberg told reporters, referring to ISIS’s alternative name Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Russia began intervening in the Syrian civil war on Sept. 30 in support of President Bashar al-Assad, whose forces are fighting insurgents backed by regional powers, including Turkey.

The Russian air raids, launched ostensibly to target ISIS, have mostly hit other foreign-backed rebel groups, the United States says.

Diplomats present at the NATO meeting told that, while none of the 28 NATO envoys defended Russia’s actions, many expressed concern that Turkey did not escort the Russian warplane out of its air space.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday added to the calls for calm. “The shooting down of a Russian jet has further heightened the situation in Syria,” she said in Berlin.

As recriminations flew, several hundred young activists hurled stones and eggs at Turkey’s embassy in Moscow yesterday and brandished anti-Turkish placards in a brief protest.

Russian forces also launched a heavy bombardment against insurgent-held areas in Syria’s Latakia province yesterday, near where the Russian jet had been shot down, rebels and a monitoring group said.

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