Putin: Downed Russian Plane Was Outside Turkish Airspace

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday defended the Russian warplane shot down by Turkey had been outside of Turkish airspace when the incident occurred.



Putin answered questions from the press during his meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah in the Sochi province of Russia.



"This tragic event will bear serious consequences for Turkish-Russian relations," he said. "We will never tolerate such crimes like the one committed today."



A Russian warplane was shot down on the Turkish-Syrian border earlier Tuesday after repeatedly ignoring warnings that it was violating Turkish airspace.



Putin claimed that the warplane was shot down at an altitude of 6,000 meters and just 1 km away from the Turkish border. He added the plane went down 4 kms away from the Turkish border. Putin defended that the pilots had not been a threat for Turkey.



Putin asserted that Turkey had called a meeting fellow NATO members instead of making necessary contacts with Russia. NATO held an emergency meeting in Brussels at 5 p.m. local time (1600GMT) on Tuesday after a Russian warplane violating Turkish airspace was shot down



"We were stabbed in the back by the accomplices of terrorists. It is impossible to explain what happened today in other words," said Putin.  



He added that Daesh has been selling oil and oil products to Turkey.



Putin alleged that Russian warplanes had been launching an operation against Daesh north of Latakia.



Putin recalled that Russia and the U.S. had signed a treaty to prevent these types of incidents.



The Russian Defense Ministry issued a statement saying the shooting down of a Russian warplane was an "unfriendly" act.



"We are working on a package of measures to respond to such incidents," said the ministry.



Turkey's defence attache in Moscow was invited to the ministry to issue a formal protest.



 "A warplane of unknown nationality that breached Turkish airspace over Hatay's [province] Yayladagi region at 9.20 a.m. [0720 GMT] was alerted 10 times in five minutes," Turkish General Staff said in a statement, adding that the F-16s' response was in line with rules of engagement.



The warplane went down near Syria's northwestern Turkmen town of Bayirbucak. - Ankara