Downed Russian bomber did not violate Turkish border: Defence Ministry

The incident has devastated traditionally warm relations between the countries, as Russian Federation responded with economic and travel sanctions against Turkey.

Russian officials opened the orange-painted flight recorder as experts from China and Britain watched the procedure.

“Wearing lab coats, technicians used screwdrivers, drills, and even a vacuum cleaner as they opened the device under the watchful eyes of military personnel and dozens of journalists in a live national television broadcast.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the downing of the plane a “stab in the back” possibly motivated by Turkey’s desire to please the United States and its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies. Both Russian and Syrian defense officials confirmed that the Su-24 never crossed into Turkish airspace, and was illegally downed in Syria.

Officials said experts would try to analyse its contents over the weekend with the aid of special equipment before presenting their findings on Monday.

For his part, Lt. Gen. Sergei Bainetov, deputy chief of the Russian Armed Forces’ flight safety service, said that experts’ examination would center on the solid-state emergency onboard recorder.

The military said the black box had sustained damage, including multiple scratches and dents, but had not been exposed to the fire at the crash site. Moscow hopes to affirm statements that the Russian jet did not violate Turkish airspace, in direct contradiction to Ankara’s statements on the incident.

Turkey shot down the Su-24 on a bombing mission in Syria on November 24 after it allegedly violated its airspace for just 17 seconds.

Mr Dronov said the black box presented to the public on Friday had not been touched since it was recovered from the crash site.

The pilot was apparently killed by Syrian rebel militants on the ground in the rebel-held territory where it was shot down.

As Russia detained eight commercial ships under Turkish flags in the Black Sea since the jet crisis had erupted between the two countries, Turkey has detained 27 Russian vessels in a retaliatory move, Russian Dozhd TV channel reported with reference to Turkish daily newspaper Habertürk.