Putin says Turkey’s downing of Russian warplane will have ‘serious consequences’; Syrian rebels shoot down rescue helicopter
One of the Russian pilots reported to be dead after falling into rebel hands, while second pilot still missing
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Turkey of being "accomplices of terrorism" after Turkish fighter jets shot down a Russian bomber near the border with Syria.
The crisis escalated when a Russian helicopter on a mission to rescue the jet's two pilots also came under fire from Syrian rebel positions and crash landed, killing one of the would-be rescuers. Russia said that one of the jet's pilots was also shot dead.
Russian military spokesman General Sergei Rudskoi said Russia would cease all military contact with Turkey, as international concerns grow that the incident could snowball into a major conflict.
The general said the Su-24 bomber “fell in Syrian territory, four kilometres from the border” on Tuesday.
“The crew ejected,” the general said. “According to preliminary information, one of the pilots died after being fired upon from the ground.”
The fate of the second pilot was not immediately known.
In a statement published on the defence ministry's website, Rudskoi said a Russian soldier had been killed when his Mi-8 helicopter was “damaged by gunfire and had to land” during a failed search-and-rescue operation to retrieve the pair.
Two helicopters were used in the operation. The rest of the crew onboard the stricken Mi-8 were evacuated to the Hmeimim air base in Syria's northern Latakia province, Rudskoi said, adding that the helicopter was hit by mortar fire coming from territory under rebel control.
Putin warned Turkey of “very serious consequences” for relations.
“We understand that everyone has their own interests but we won’t allow such crimes to take place,” Putin said at talks with Jordanian King Abdullah in Sochi. “We received a stab in the back from accomplices of terrorism.”
Watch: Russian warplane is shot down by Turkish fighter jets near Syrian border
Turkey said its jets shot down the Russian warplane after repeated warnings over air space violations, but Moscow said it could prove the jet had not left Syrian air space.
It was the first time a Nato member’s armed forces have downed a Russian or Soviet military aircraft since the 1950s.
Footage from private Turkish broadcaster Haberturk TV showed the warplane going down in flames in a woodland area, a long plume of smoke trailing behind it.
Separate footage from Turkey’s Anadolu Agency showed two pilots parachuting out of the jet before it crashed. A Syrian rebel group released a video that appeared to show one of the pilots immobile on the ground and an official from the group said he was dead.
Jahed Ahmad, a spokesman for the group, said its forces fired at the pilots as they descended. One was dead when he reached the ground, Ahmad said. The rebels were still searching for the second pilot.
Russia’s defence ministry said the downed jet had been over Syria for the duration of its flight.
The Turkish military said the aircraft had been warned 10 times in the space of five minutes about violating Turkish airspace. Officials said a second plane had also approached the border and been warned.
“The data we have is very clear. There were two planes approaching our border, we warned them as they were getting too close,” a senior Turkish official said.
A second official said the incident was not an action against any specific country but a move to defend Turkey’s sovereign territory within its rules of engagement.
A Nato official said allies would hold an “extraordinary” meeting later Tuesday at Ankara’s request to discuss the incident. Each country summoned a diplomatic representative of the other.
Russia’s decision to launch separate air strikes in Syria mean Russian and Nato planes have been flying combat missions in the same air space for the first time since the second world war, targeting various insurgent groups close to Turkish borders.
The downing of the jet appeared to scupper hopes of a rapprochement between Russia and the West in the wake of the Islamic State attacks in Paris, which led to calls for a united front against the radical jihadist group in Syria.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was briefed by the head of the military, while Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu ordered consultations with Nato, the United Nations and related countries, their respective offices said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the warplane crashed in a mountainous area in the northern countryside of Latakia province, where there had been aerial bombardment earlier and where pro-government forces have been battling insurgents on the ground.
“A Russian pilot,” a voice is heard saying in the video as men gather around the man on the ground. “God is great,” is also heard.
The rebel group that sent the video operates in the northwestern area of Syria, where groups including the Free Syrian Army are active but Islamic State, which has beheaded captives in the past, has no known presence.
The official from the group did not mention the second Russian pilot.
Both Russia and its ally, Syria’s government, have carried out strikes in the area. A Syrian military source said the reported downing was being investigated.
Turkey called this week for a UN Security Council meeting to discuss attacks on Turkmens in neighbouring Syria, and last week Ankara summoned the Russian ambassador to protest the bombing of their villages.
Ankara has traditionally expressed solidarity with Syrian Turkmens, who are Syrians of Turkish descent.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is due to visit Turkey on Wednesday to discuss Syria, in a trip arranged before this incident. Erdogan is meanwhile expected to visit Russia for talks with Putin in late December.
About 1,700 people have fled the mountainous Syrian area near to the Turkish border as a result of fighting in the last three days, a Turkish official said on Monday. Russian jets have bombed the area in support of ground operations by Syrian government forces.
