Russian pilot rescued by Syrian commando unit

Russian Federation is not considering stopping airstrikes on terrorist targets close to the Turkish border after the downing of its plane by Turkish fighter jets, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

French President Francois Hollande is trying to rally more global support to destroy Islamic State following the November 13 attacks in Paris.

One of two crew members survived the shooting down of a Russian warplane by Turkey on Tuesday, Russian officials say, and was rescued by a Syrian commando unit in an operation that ended early Wednesday.

Mr Orlov told Europe-1 radio the other pilot “managed to escape and be rescued by the Syrian army”.

Asked if the jet had been shot down over Turkey, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said: “The allied assessments we have got from several allies during the day are consistent with the information we have been provided with from Turkey”.

Russian forces launched a heavy bombardment against insurgent-held areas in Syria’s Latakia province on Wednesday, near where the warplane was shot down, rebels and a monitoring group said. “I do hope that this and other measures that we will take will be enough to make flights safe”, he said.

Lavrov on Tuesday cancelled talks planned with his Turkish counterpart in Istanbul on Wednesday which had been scheduled prior to the plane’s downing.

Lavrov also said that Turkish territory was used by “terrorists” to prepare terror attacks in other countries, but offered no details.

British Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday was also “aware of the reports” of the incident, according to a Downing Street spokesperson.

Responding to the incident on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the downing “a stab in the back”, and warned it would have serious consequences for the Russian-Turkish relationship.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country does not wish to escalate tensions with Russian Federation over the incident.

Speaking at a business event in Istanbul, Erdogan said Turkey had made a “huge effort” to prevent an incident like the downing of the Russian aircraft, but that the limits of its patience had been tested.

“We do not plan to go to war with Turkey, our attitude toward the Turkish people has not changed”, Lavrov added, stressing that Moscow would however “seriously reevaluate” its ties with Ankara.

He defended his country’s move to shoot down the plane saying: “no one should expect Turkey to stay silent to border violations or the violation of its rights”.

Russia’s top diplomat said Wednesday the country was not planning on hosting any Turkish officials nor contemplating making any official visits to Turkey.

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

This was not the first time Russian fighter jets had violated Turkish airspace. Davutoglu demanded that operations there stop immediately.