Putin responds to Turkey’s downing of Russian jet by sending air defence

But, Davutoglu said, targeting Russian Federation is “out of the question”, Reuters reports.

Russian Federation is a major exporter of grain and energy to Turkey, and sends over four million tourists each year to Turkish resorts, second only to the number of German tourists.

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

Erdogan disputed that claim in a speech Wednesday.

Speaking at a business event in İstanbul, Erdoğan said the jet had been fired at while in Turkish air space but had crashed inside Syria, although some parts of the plane landed in Turkey and injured two Turkish citizens.

Shoigu also said that from now on all Russian bombers will be escorted by fighters on their combat missions in Syria. But the fire in his words showed that the conflict in Syria has now churned up a new and alarming wave of worldwide turbulence.

Following an extraordinary meeting of the alliance called by Ankara, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said “diplomacy and de-escalation are important to resolve this situation”, he said.

The downing of the jet on Tuesday was one of the most serious publicly acknowledged clashes between a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member and Russian Federation for half a century, and further complicated global efforts to battle Islamic State militants in Syria.

U.S. President Barack Obama spoke to Erdogan by phone Tuesday and “expressed U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation support for Turkey’s right to defend its sovereignty”, the White House said.

He charged Russian Federation with propping up the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad – a regime he said was inflicting terrorism on its own people. Russia’s foreign ministry issued a protest over the incident to the Turkish ambassador in Moscow, according to a Russian foreign ministry source.

Russia’s Moskva guided missile cruiser will now be stationed near the Syrian Mediterranean port of Latakia, the defence ministry said.

Lavrov on Wednesday said the downing of its fighter jet by Turkey appeared to be a “planned provocation” as the incident heightened tensions between Moscow and Ankara.

Putin Wednesday backed the recommendation as a “necessary measure”.

The response from both nations to the incident has been swift.

“None of the targets that… the Russians were going after had anything to do with ISIS”.

Turkmen rebels operating in the area of Syria where the plane went down appeared to claim in a video that they shot both pilots to death as they parachuted toward the ground.

The Turkish military said it had explained the rules of engagement that led to the downing of the jet to Russian military attaches and had tried to rescue the pilots.

Rudskoi said another soldier had been killed in a failed bid to rescue the pair after one of his squadron’s helicopters was damaged by gunfire and had to land.