Tensions rise after Turkish fighter shoots down Russian warplace

Turkey shot down a Russian warplane that it said ignored repeated warnings and crossed into its airspace from Syria, killing at least one of the two pilots.

Tensions rise after Turkish fighter shoots down Russian warplace

Turkey shot down a Russian warplane that it said ignored repeated warnings and crossed into its airspace from Syria, killing at least one of the two pilots.

It was a long-feared escalation in tensions between Nato and Russia, with President Vladimir Putin denouncing a “stab in the back” and warning of “significant consequences”.

It was the first time in half a century that a Nato member has downed a Russian plane and prompted an emergency meeting of the alliance.

The pilots of the downed Su-24 ejected, but one was killed by Syrian rebel fire from the ground as he parachuted to Earth, said the Russian general staff, insisting the Russian jet had been in Syrian airspace at the time.

One of two helicopters sent to the crash site to search for survivors was also hit by rebel fire, killing one serviceman and forcing the chopper to make an emergency landing, the military said.

A US defence official in Washington said the Russian plane flew across a two-mile section of Turkish airspace before it was shot down, meaning it was in Turkish skies for only a matter of seconds.

The incident highlighted the chaotic complexity of Syria’s civil war, where multiple groups with clashing alliances are fighting on the ground and the sky is crowded with aircraft bombing various targets.

“As we have repeatedly made clear we stand in solidarity with Turkey and support the territorial integrity of our Nato ally, Turkey,” Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

He urged “calm and de-escalation” and renewed contacts between Moscow and Ankara.

Russia has long been at odds with Nato, which it accuses of encroaching on Russia’s borders, as well as with Turkey’s determination to oust Syrian president Bashar Assad, a long-time Moscow ally.

In Washington, President Barack Obama said Turkey ``has a right to defend its territory and its airspace''.

At a news conference with French president Francois Hollande, he said the incident underscored the “ongoing problem” with Russia’s military operations in Syria, where the Russians have been targeting groups near the Turkish border.

Calling Russia an “outlier” in the global fight against the Islamic State group, Mr Obama said that if Moscow were to concentrate its airstrikes on IS targets, mistakes “would be less likely to occur”.

On September 30, Russia began a campaign of massive airstrikes in Syria, which it says are aimed at destroying IS fighters but which Western critics contend are bolstering Assad’s forces.

Before Tuesday’s incident, Russia and the West appeared to be moving towards an understanding of their common strategic goal of eradicating IS.

The group gained momentum after the November 13 attacks in Paris, as well as the October 31 bombing of a Russian airliner over Egypt’s Sinai desert. IS claimed responsibility for both attacks.

Turkey said its fighter pilots acted after two Russian Su-24 bombers ignored numerous warnings that they were nearing and then entering Turkish airspace.

In a letter to the UN Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Turkey said the Russian warplanes violated its airspace “to a depth of 1.36 miles and 1.15 miles ... for 17 seconds” just after 9.24am local time.

It said one of the planes then left Turkish airspace and the other one was fired at by Turkish F-16s “in accordance with the rules of engagement” and crashed on the Syrian side of the border.

Russia insisted the plane stayed over Syria, where it was supporting ground action by Syrian troops against rebels.

Rebel forces fired at the two parachuting pilots as they descended, and one died, said Jahed Ahmad, a spokesman for the 10th Coast Division rebel group. The fate of the second pilot was not immediately known.

A visibly angry Mr Putin denounced what he called a “stab in the back by the terrorists’ accomplices” and warned of “significant consequences” for Russian-Turkish relations.

Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu insisted his country had the right to take “all kinds of measures” against border violations, and called on the international community to work toward “extinguishing the fire that is burning in Syria”.

Turkey has complained repeatedly that Russian planes supporting Assad are straying across the border.

On Friday, Turkey summoned the Russian ambassador demanding that Russia stop operations in the Turkmen region.

Last month, Turkish jets shot down an unidentified drone that it said had violated Turkey’s airspace.

The country changed its rules of engagement a few years ago after Syria shot down a Turkish plane.

According to the new rules, Turkey said it would consider all “elements” approaching from Syria an enemy threat and would act accordingly.

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