Turkey rejects Russian request for routine observation flight

Russian inspectors were expected to make an observation flight over the territory of Turkey on February 1-5 aboard an Antonov An-30B plane.

“Observation flights are performed when the observing party and the observed party reach agreement on the mission plan”.

The latest salvo in an ongoing dispute between the two countries came some three months after Turkey shot down in November a Russian fighter jet on the Syrian border, sparking a war of words with Moscow which insisted its plane had not violated Turkish airspace.

The route was expected to include the observation of areas adjacent to the Syrian border and airfields where North Atlantic Treaty Organisation aircraft are concentrated.

“As a result of violations of the requirements of the Treaty and unconstructive actions on the part of Turkey, a unsafe precedent was created of an uncontrolled military activity of an Open Skies Treaty member state”, Ryzhkov said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry says a Russian military adviser has been killed by mortar fire in Syria.

On Saturday Turkey said a Russian Su-34 jet violated its airspace and warned that Moscow would endure consequences if such violations continue.

BRUSSELS/ISTANBUL, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) – NATO has called on Russia to act responsibly after Turkey summoned Russian ambassador to protest what it claimed a violation of its airspace by a Russian warplane.

“We are not going to leave this violation of the treaty by Turkey without proper attention and adequate response”, said Sergei Ryzhkov, head of the ministry’s National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center.

Moscow had said Wednesday that the Russian plane’s itinerary had been transmitted to the Turkish army in advance but authorisation was refused with Ankara.

The Turkish ministry did not state where the alleged airspace violation occurred exactly.

The Treaty on Open Skies, negotiated in 1992 by then-members of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, was established to allow its 34 signatories to conduct aerial observation on each other’s territory in a bid to promote transparency in military affairs.