Russian Su-24 fighter jet shot down over Syria – Russian MoD

 

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Nov 24, 2015, RT

A Russian Su-24 fighter has been shot down in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said, adding the plane hadn’t violated Turkish airspace and was flying at an altitude of 6,000 meters.

“During the flight, the aircraft was flying within the borders of Syria, which was registered by objective monitoring data,” the ministry said, adding that the aircraft was “supposedly shot down from the ground.”

The pilots managed to eject, the ministry said, adding their fate is as yet unknown.

The downing of the Russian plane is “a very serious incident,” said Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov. He added, however, that it is too early to draw conclusions until the whole situation is clear.

Footage has emerged online, allegedly showing Russian pilots from the downed jet immobile on the ground and surrounded by locals. Some reports claim that one pilot is dead.

Reports of a downed plane emerged earlier in Turkish media. A Habertürk TV reporter on the scene said the aircraft “turned into a fireball.” Numerous witnesses wrote on social media, saying thick plumes of smoke have been rising from the jet crash site.

Turkish military added the plane had been warned at least 10 times over a period of five minutes before being shot down by two Turkish F-16 fighter jets. He said the plane had violated Turkish airspace.

The plane reportedly crashed in a village mostly populated by Syrian Turkmen. The place has been a hotspot between the opposition and the Syrian Army.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has met with officials from the Foreign Ministry. He instructed them to consult with NATO and the UN on the latest developments on the Syrian border, Davutoglu’s office said in a statement.

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LATEST UPDATES:

• 24 November 2015

  15:58 GMT

  The US military said it couldn’t offer a precise location where the Russian jet was downed by Turkey, only saying that it happened “at the border” between Syria and Turkey.

  When asked to confirm Turkish accounts that the Russian plane was warned ten times before being engaged, Steve Warren, a spokesman for the US-led military campaign against Islamic State, said: “I can confirm that. Yes.”

  However, he didn’t specify whether the US knew this independently, or if it was relying on Turkish accounts.

• 15:46 GMT

  Despite Turkey being a NATO member, the US military spokesman said the downing of the Russian warplane is an issue to be settled between Ankara and Moscow.

  “This is an incident between the Russian and the Turkish governments. It is not an issue that involves the [US-led coalition operations]. Our combat operations against ISIL (IS, ISIS) continue as planned and we are striking in both Iraq and Syria,” Steve Warren, spokesman for the US-led Combined Joint Task Force, is cited as saying by Reuters.

• 15:46 GMT

  Turkey has informed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the five members of the UN Security Council in writing over the downing of the Russian warplane, Turkish diplomatic sources told Reuters.

  Turkey’s deputy undersecretary has already met with the charge d’affairs of Russia, the US and Britain as well as the French ambassador to the country, stressing that the Su-24 was attacked after it repeatedly violated Turkish air space.

• 15:46 GMT

  German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed hope that Turkey’s downing of a Russian warplane wouldn’t hamper talks on solving the Syrian civil war.

  “What we must hope for is that this occurrence will not deal a setback to the encouraging first talks, which offer a small hope of de-escalating the Syrian conflict,” said Steinmeier as cited by Reuters.

  15:46 GMT

  The rebel group, which claims to have shot dead one of the Russian pilots after they ejected from their Su-24, announced the conditions for releasing his body.

  Jahed Ahmad of the 10th Brigade in the Coast, a group affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, told AP that the body will be exchanged for prisoners held by the Syrian government.

  According to Ahmad, the group is now conducting a search operation in the area to find the second Russian pilot.

  • 14:38 GMT

    Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will chair a security meeting later on Tuesday to discuss the incident involving the downed Russian Su-24 bomber. The meeting will also be attended by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, the head of the armed forces General Hulusi Akar, the head of the MIT national intelligence agency Hakan Fidan and some ministers, Reuters reports citing presidential sources.

  • 14:00 GMT

    The Turkish foreign minister has summoned the representatives of the five UN Security Council permanent members – China, France, Germany, Russia and the US – to brief them on the incident involving the downed Russian Su-24 bomber.

  • 13:29 GMT

    The Russian Su-24 was downed while returning to the Khmeimim airbase, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported.

    “A Russian Su-24 was downed by a Turkish F-16 fighter over the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic while returning to the Khmeimim airbase. Objective monitoring data showed that there was no violation of Syrian airspace,” the statement from the ministry said.

  • 13:00 GMT

    Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says Turkey has a right to respond to violations of its airspace and it came in spite of repeated warnings. He also added Turkey would do “whatever is necessary” to ensure its security.

  • 12:53 GMT

    Turkey backstabbed Russia by downing the Russian warplane and acted as accomplices of the terrorists, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

    The plane was hit by a Turkish warplane as it was travelling 1 km away from the Turkish border, Putin said. The plane posed no threat to Turkish national security, he stressed.

    Putin said the plane was targeting terrorist targets in the Latakia province of Syria, many of whom came from Russia.

    Russia noticed of the flow of oil from Syrian territory under the control of terrorists to Turkey, Putin said.

    Apparently, IS now not only receives revenue from the smuggling of oil, but also has the protection of a nation’s military, Putin said. This may explain why the terrorist group is so bold in taking acts of terrorism across the world, he added.

    The incident will have grave consequences for Russia’s relations with Turkey, Putin warned.

    The fact that Turkey did not try to contact Russia in the wake of the incident and rushed to call a NATO meeting instead is worrisome, Putin said. It appears that Turkey want NATO to serve the interests of IS, he added.

    Putin said Russia respects the regional interests of other nations, but warned the atrocity committed by Turkey would not go without an answer.

    Putin was speaking at a meeting with King of Jordan Abdullah II in Sochi, who expressed his condolences to the Russian leader over the loss of a Russian pilot in Tuesday’s incident, as well as the deaths of Russians in the Islamic State bombing of a passenger plane in Egypt.

    The two leaders discussed the anti-terrorist effort in Syria and Iraq and the diplomatic effort to find a political solution to the Syrian conflict….