MOSCOW - Russia on Wednesday accused Turkey of a “planned provocation” over the downing of a warplane on the Syrian border but pledged not to go to war as NATO-member Ankara sought to play down tensions.
As the diplomatic fallout from Tuesday’s incident raged on, Moscow said Russian and Syrian special forces had rescued one of the pilots who ejected from the burning Russian plane but confirmed the second airman was dead.
The jet downing has threatened ties between two major rival players in the Syrian war and raised fears it could escalate into a wider geopolitical conflict.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov ratcheted up the pressure after talking to Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu by phone in the first contact between the two sides since the plane went down.
“We have serious doubts about this being an unpremeditated act, it really looks like a planned provocation,” Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow.
“We do not plan to go to war with Turkey, our attitude toward the Turkish people has not changed,” Lavrov added, but warned that Moscow would “seriously reevaluate” relations with Ankara.
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday branded the incident a “stab in the back committed by accomplices of terrorists”, recommending that Russians do not visit Turkey, a key tourist destination.
- ‘Friend and neighbour’ -
Turkey, however, has sought to turn down the heat, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisting Ankara was simply defending its border.
“We have no intention to escalate this incident. We are just defending our security and the rights of our brothers,” Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called Russia “our friend and our neighbour” and said Ankara did not want to strain ties with Moscow.
Turkey says the Su-24 warplane violated its airspace 10 times within a five-minute period, but Russia insisted it never strayed from Syrian territory.
The shooting also risks derailing efforts to bring peace to Syria that were gaining tentative momentum following the November 13 Paris attacks claimed by Islamic State militants who control swathes of northern Syria.
US President Barack Obama said Washington’s NATO ally had a right to defend its airspace but said his priority was to make sure the standoff did not escalate.
Following an extraordinary meeting of the alliance Tuesday, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said “diplomacy and de-escalation are important to resolve this situation”.
Turkey’s ambassador to the United Nations Halit Cevik said in a letter to the Security Council that two planes were involved, one of which was shot down while the other left Turkish airspace.
He said both had flown 1.36 miles (2.19 kilometres) into Turkish airspace for 17 seconds from 0724 GMT Tuesday.
Ankara and Moscow are already on starkly opposing sides in the four-year Syrian civil war, with Turkey wanting to see the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad while Russia is one of his last remaining allies.
Assad’s other key ally Iran also slammed Ankara. Turkey’s behaviour “sends the wrong message to the terrorists” in Syria, its Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told Lavrov.
In an apparent response to Turkey’s action, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow would send its most hi-tech S-400 air defence system to its airbase in Syria. The Moskva guided missile cruiser will be stationed near the Syrian Mediterranean port of Latakia, the defence ministry said.
Following an extraordinary meeting of the alliance called by Ankara, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg urged both sides to try to calm the crisis between the two rival players in the Syrian conflict. “Diplomacy and de-escalation are important to resolve this situation,” he said.
The Turkish army on Wednesday released a series of audio recordings of apparent warnings issued to a Russian jet before it was downed near the Syrian border. “This is Turkish Air Force speaking on guard. You are approaching Turkish airspace. Change your heading south immediately,” a voice in one of the recordings can be heard saying.
There has been fears of such a mid-air incident since Russia launched air strikes in Syria in September, to the consternation of nations already involved in a US-led anti-IS coalition.
Turkey had protested that Russia’s campaign was aimed at hitting Syrian rebels and buttressing the Assad regime rather than hurting IS jihadists.
As the recriminations flew, Moscow said its special forces had helped rescue one of the pilots alongside Syrian troops and that the serviceman was now safe at a Russian air base in Syria.
“The operation ended successfully. The second pilot has been brought to our base. He is alive and well,” Shoigu said.
Putin said the rescued pilot would be given a medal, along with those involved in the rescue operation and the other pilot who was shot dead by rebels after parachuting out.
Russia’s military said another soldier had been killed in a failed bid to rescue the pair after one of his squadron’s helicopters was damaged by gunfire and had to land.
In Moscow several hundred young activists hurled stones and eggs at Turkey’s embassy and brandished anti-Turkish placards in a brief protest over the jet downing.
WEST URGES DE-ESCALATION
Turkey’s NATO allies on Wednesday called for a rapid de-escalation in tensions between Ankara and Moscow after Turkish fighter jets shot down a Russian war plane on the Syrian border, sparking fears of a wider conflict.
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 defence ministry said a Russian soldier was also killed when a helicopter search-and-rescue operation came under fire although others were evacuated.
With the incident risking serious harm for Ankara-Moscow relations, Turkey said the Russian plane had violated its air space 10 times within a five minute period, but Russia insisted it had never strayed from Syrian territory.
President Vladimir Putin reacted furiously to what he described as a “stab in the back committed by accomplices of terrorists”, and insisted the plane had posed no threat.
The shooting also risks derailing efforts to bring peace to Syria that were gaining tentative momentum following the November 13 Paris attacks claimed by Islamic State militants who control swathes of northern Syria.
US President Barack Obama said Washington’s NATO ally Turkey had a right to defend its airspace but said his priority was to make sure the standoff did not escalate.
“I think it is very important for us to right now make sure that both the Russians and the Turks are talking to each other and find out exactly what happened, and take measures to discourage any kind of escalation,” Obama told reporters.
“Hopefully, this is a moment in which all parties can step back and make a determination as to how their interests are best served,”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Obama agreed on the need to reduce tensions and prevent a repeat of similar incidents in a phone call late on Tuesday, the Turkish presidency said.
In his first reaction to the incident, Erdogan said: “Everyone must respect the right of Turkey to protect its borders.”
Following an extraordinary meeting of the alliance called by Ankara, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg urged both sides to try to calm the crisis between the two rival players in the Syrian conflict.
“Diplomacy and de-escalation are important to resolve this situation,” he said.