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2nd LD Writethru: Russian warplane not violates Turkish airspace -- Putin

Xinhua, November 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that the Russian Su-24 warplane, which was attacked 1 km away from the Syrian border with Turkey and crashed 4 km away, had not violated Turkey's airspace.

"When attacked in the air, the plane was flying at an altitude of 6,000 meters, one kilometer away from the Turkish territory," Putin said during a meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Russia's Sochi.

He said that the plane was shot down by an air-to-air missile launched by a Turkish F-16 jet in the Syrian airspace and the Su-24 crashed in Syria 4 km away from the Turkish border.

"They were fulfilling their task of delivering preventive airstrikes on positions of the Islamic State (IS)...The Russian pilots and the warplane have in no way threatened Turkey. This is obvious," Putin said.

"This event goes beyond the boundaries of fighting terrorism. It is a stab in the back from accomplices of terrorists," Putin said, according to live broadcast by Russian 24 TV channel.

Putin said that the incident would have serious consequences in Moscow-Ankara relations as "Russia would not tolerate crimes like what happened today."

"We have always regarded Turkey not only as a close neighbor, but also a friendly state. I don't know who needed today's incident to happen, but Russia didn't need it in any case," said Putin.

The president promised to carefully analyze everything that has happened, criticizing Ankara for contacting NATO instead of establishing necessary communication with Russia immediately.

"As if it were us shooting down a Turkish plane and not vice versa," said Putin.

Noting that Moscow had recorded oil supplies to Turkey from Syrian areas captured by terrorists, Putin reiterated the urgent need of a united international community against the "common evil" of terrorism.

"We hope very much for all countries in the region to actively participate in the joint anti-terrorist fight," Putin said when praising the "constant contact" with Jordan on anti-terrorist issues.

Earlier in the day, a Russian Su-24 crashed in Syria "allegedly because of gunfire from the ground," the Russian Defense Ministry said.

According to the Turkish military, the Su-24 had been warned 10 times in five minutes about its violation of Turkish airspace, before two Turkish F-16 jets "interfered".

The latest statement released by the Russian Defense Ministry said that the Su-24 was shot down by a Turkish F-16 jet while returning to Syria's Hmeimim airbase, where a Russian airforce group for anti-terrorist strikes is located.

Insisting that analysis of readout data showed clearly no violation of Turkish airspace, the ministry has already summoned the Turkish military attache in Russia. Endi