Russian President Vladimir Putin says the United States knew the flight path of a Russian jet, shot down by Turkey last Tuesday, and should have informed Turkey, its coalition ally, reports VOA from Washington. “The American side, which leads the coalition that Turkey belongs to, knew about the location and time of our planes’ flights, and we were hit exactly there and at that time,” Putin said in Moscow Thursday. “Why did we give this information to the Americans if they did not pass it along to the rest of the coalition?” The U.S. has an agreement with Russia to avoid aircraft collisions over Syria where both countries are conducting bombing campaigns. Turkey says it issued repeated warnings that the plane was in its airspace before shooting it down.
Meanwhile, the war of words between Moscow and Ankara continued. Putin said the downing of its plane by Turkey was an act of betrayal by a country Russia had thought of as a friendly state. “Had we thought of this, we would have established systems to protect our aircraft.”
Russia announced Wednesday it is sending S-400 missile system to Syria’s Latakia province, which borders Turkey. Putin said that it was “not possible” for Turkey not to have known that the plane was Russian, as suggested by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on French television. “If it was an American aircraft, would they have struck an American?” Putin asked rhetorically. “What we hear instead is they have nothing to apologize for.”
In an interview with CNN, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country would not apologize for downing the jet.
“I think if there is a party that needs to apologize, it is not us,” Erdogan said. “Those who violated our airspace are the ones who need to apologize.”
The Turkish leader sounded somewhat more concilatory in another interview Thursday, telling France 24 television: “Had we known it was a Russian plane, we may have acted differently. But our pilots know the rules of engagement and have to do their duty to protect Turkish airspace.”
AFP from Moscow adds: Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yedsterday said that Ankara has crossed the line by shooting down a Russian warplane this week and warned the incident could severely undermine Turkey’s interests.
“We believe that the Turkish leadership has crossed the line of what is acceptable,” Lavrov said at the start of talks with Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem in Moscow. Ankara “risks putting Turkey in a most severe situation, with respect to both its long-term national interests and the situation in the region,” he said. Moscow is reeling after a Russian warplane carrying out strikes in Syria was shot down on the Turkish-Syrian border on Tuesday—an incident President Vladimir Putin described as a “treachery” and a “stab in the back.” Ankara has argued that it did not realise the plane, which it said had violated Turkish airspace, was Russian, and claimed it issued multiple warnings to the pilot to change course.