2nd LD Writethru: Deciphering flight recorder of Su-24 downed by Turkey currently impossible due to internal damages: Russia

It is currently impossible to decipher the flight recorder of Russia's Su-24 fighter jet downed by Turkey as the microchips have been damaged, the Russian Defense Ministry said Monday here.

"Decoding of the data from the microchips is impossible at this point due to internal damages, and we are considering asking for help from Russia's specialized scientific institutions to read the data," Sergei Bainetov, head of the ministry's flight safety department, told a press briefing.

He added that this work will take a "substantially long time," and promised that the Russian side will release the date in due time.

The study of the black box was conducted with the presence of experts from China, the United States and Britain. Bainetov said they raised no questions and gave a "high assessment of transparency" during the whole process.

Russia begun the decoding of the flight recorder on Friday, when it was opened in a laboratory in Moscow with live broadcast to journalists. Although the Defense Ministry has invited 14 countries to participate in the investigation, many of them refused to join in.

Relations between Moscow and Ankara worsened significantly after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet near the Turkish-Syrian border late November for alleged violation of its air space. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the downing a "stab in the back."

Russian Aerospace Forces Deputy Commander Sergei Dronov said last week that Russia has proof confirming that the Russian jet did not violate Turkish air space and posed no threat to the country at the time of the incident.

Russia has imposed a series of economic sanctions on Turkey and has been locked in a war of words with Turkish authorities. Endit