Turkey says its patience with Russian Federation ‘has a limit’: newspaper

Russian Federation says one of its warships fired warning shots at a Turkish fishing vessel in the Aegean 13 December to prevent a collision, and is warning Ankara to stop staging provocations against its forces operating in or near Syria.

“It is not planned”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday said in an interview with Italian media that his country would like good relations with Russian Federation, but there was a limit to Turkey’s patience.

Putin and Erdogan have been locked in a war of words over the downing of the Russian jet – which led to the deaths of a pilot and of a soldier sent out on a rescue mission – and prompted Moscow to impose economic sanctions on Turkey in retaliation. “We have always been in favor of overcoming tensions through dialogue rather than conflict”, he said, AFP reports, citing Dogan.

“Earlier this month, Turkey complained to Russia after a Russian sailor was allegedly photographed holding a rocket launcher as his ship passed through Istanbul”.

On the issue of the downed Russian jet, Cavusoglu claimed that it was not the first incursion into Turkish airspace, and that “the Russians had already been warned several times, and we never wanted it to come to this”. Putin ordered his armed forces on Friday “to shoot down” immediately any target that threatens the Russian forces or infrastructure in Syria in a clear reference to the Turkish forces.

“Turkey’s military attache at the embassy in Moscow has been “urgently” summoned over the incident, the Defense Ministry said”.

“Finally, many countries have realized how unsafe Daesh is, as Turkey has been saying for years”, Cavusoglu said.