Vladimir Putin said that Turkey had back stabbed Russia by downing a Russian warplane and acted as accomplices of the terrorists.
The Russian president stated that the Su-24 incident in Syria had stepped over the boundary in the conventional war against terrorism, during a meeting with King of Jordan Abdullah II in Sochi.
Putin said Russia respects the regional interests of other nations, but warned that the atrocity committed by Turkey would not go without an answer.
BYPASS THE CENSORS
Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.
You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use
Today’s incident comes just days after Turkey threatened Moscow with “serious consequences” if they continued bombing ISIS in Syria.
Turkish and Russian sources have been giving conflicting reports about the incident, which now has the potential to escalate the tension between Russia and NATO member Turkey.
RT reports: The plane was hit by a Turkish warplane as it was travelling 1 km away from the Turkish border, Putin said. The plane posed no threat to Turkish national security, he stressed.
Putin said the plane was targeting terrorist targets in the Latakia province of Syria, many of whom came from Russia.
Russia noticed of the flow of oil from Syrian territory under the control of terrorists to Turkey, Putin said.
Apparently, IS now not only receives revenue from the smuggling of oil, but also has the protection of a nation’s military, Putin said. This may explain why the terrorist group is so bold in taking acts of terrorism across the world, he added.
The incident will have grave consequences for Russia’s relations with Turkey, Putin warned.
The fact that Turkey did not try to contact Russia in the wake of the incident and rushed to call a NATO meeting instead is worrisome, Putin said. It appears that Turkey want NATO to serve the interests of IS, he added.
Putin said Russia respects the regional interests of other nations, but warned the atrocity committed by Turkey would not go without an answer.
Putin was speaking at a meeting with King of Jordan Abdullah II in Sochi, who expressed his condolences to the Russian leader over the loss of a Russian pilot in Tuesday’s incident, as well as the deaths of Russians in the Islamic State bombing of a passenger plane in Egypt.
One of the two pilots of the downed Russian warplane was reportedly killed by a rebel group as he was parachuting down to the ground after ejecting from the plane. The fate of the second pilot so far remains unknown.
A graphic video taken from the scene of where one of the Russian pilots landed shows “moderate” rebels gathered around his body chanting “Allahu Akbar” Some reports claim that the pilot was still alive when he reached the ground and was then killed by the rebels.
According to Reuters, the video was sent by a rebel group operating in the northwestern area of Syria, where groups including the Free Syrian Army are active but Islamic State has no known presence.
From the way the people in the video look and are behaving, we “can assume that they are from the group” that follow the ideology of Islamic State militants or Jabhat al-Nusra, Ali Rizk, journalist and Middle East expert told RT.
Niamh Harris
Be the first to comment