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Australia's FM urges Russia to "exercise restraint" in wake of downed fighter jet

Xinhua, November 25, 2015 Adjust font size:

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to "exercise restraint" after he promised swift retribution to the downing of a Russian fighter plane on the Turkey-Syria border on Tuesday.

Bishop told reporters on Wednesday that a full-scale investigation would uncover whether the Su-24 warplane was in Turkish airspace before Turkish F-16s shot the jet down with an air-to-air missile.

"We urge both sides to exercise restraint and that there not be any military retaliation," Bishop said.

"I have spoken with the (foreign affairs) department and I've received briefings overnight from our posts overseas but at this point the facts are still unclear and we urge restraint while an investigation is carried out."

According to Russian media RIA, one of the two pilots aboard the aircraft was killed -- reportedly by gun fire as they both ejected -- while the status of the second pilot is yet to be confirmed.

RIA also claimed a member of helicopter rescue crew, tasked with finding the pilots, was killed after coming under attack, forcing the Mi-8 chopper to make an emergency landing on neutral territory.

On Tuesday, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said air officials alerted the Russian pilots at least 10 times as they approached Turkish airspace but they "did not answer our warning".

In October, Turkey told Russia it would no longer tolerate any future Russian incursions into its airspace.

Putin has condemned the act as a "stab in the back" committed by "accomplices of terrorists."

Moscow has since stationed a missile cruiser of the Syrian coast with the intent of destroying "every target posing a potential threat," a statement read.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who joined Bishop in the joint press conference, was also careful to avoid taking sides.

"It is essential for all of the parties in that increasingly complex conflict to have a high degree of awareness of where each other's military assets are being deployed," Turnbull told reporters on Wednesday. Enditem