Downing Russian plane is a stab in the back: Putin

IHLAS NEWS AGENCY/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images A burning Russian fighter jet shot down near the Turkish-Syrian border November 24.

A Turkish foreign ministry official told AFP Lavrov’s visit would go ahead as planned: “There is no change in the programme”.

Jahed Ahmad, a spokesman the 10th Coast Division, said its forces fired at the Russian pilots as they descended.

Ambassador Andrey Karlov was warned during the meeting that the Russian operations could lead to serious consequences.

She played down suggestions that the incident might have an impact on Mr Cameron’s effort to secure parliamentary approval to commit RAF planes to bombing missions against the Islamic State terror group – also known as Isil or Isis – in Syria.

“Today’s loss is linked to a stab in the back delivered to us by accomplices of terrorists”. Greece, which has been Turkey’s North Atlantic Treaty Organisation rival for years and often has its own complaints with Turkish jets in its airspace, seemed particularly on edge.

“Now we’ve suffered stabs in the back: attacks against our planes that fight with terrorism”, Putin said.

“Our plane was shot down on Syrian territory by an air-to-air missile from an F-16”. Two videos were released separately Tuesday morning from different Syrian rebel groups each claiming to have the pilots in custody.

However the bodies of both pilots have now been recovered by Syrian rebels, who are fighting against al-Assad, according to reports.

The Russian leader stressed that the downed fighter-bomber was posing no threat to Turkey. “God is great”, is also heard. The fate of the plane’s pilots was not immediately clear.

The official noted that “when Russian jets violated Turkish airspace a few weeks ago, the Council did meet in an extraordinary session, which resulted in a condemnation of the incursion”.

But the Russian Defense Ministry said “objective monitoring confirmed” the plane was not in Turkish airspace. It said in a statement that the plane had been flying at an altitude of 6,000 meters and was “supposedly shot down from the ground”.

Russia’s Defence Minister said: “We are looking into the circumstances of the crash of the Russian jet”.

Skirmishes between Turks and Syrians have taken place in the past, with Turkish officials accusing Syrian planes of violating Turkish air space.

“We alerted them to prevent going into Turkish airspace before they did, and we alerted them often times”.

The Turkish military said the airplane had actually been warned 10 times in the area of five minutes about violating Turkish airspace. “Heavy smoke has been seen in the area where the plane fell”.

“Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced Turkey’s new cabinet”. A second official said the plane was warned three times to leave Turkish airspace. The money finances terrorist groups.

This is where there had been aerial bombardment earlier and where pro-government forces have been battling insurgents on the ground.

Both Russian Federation and its ally, Syria’s government, have carried out strikes in the area.

Uluc Ozulker, a retired Turkish ambassador, said the situation is alarming because it means the Syrian conflict has escalated beyond Syria now.

Separate footage from Turkey’s Anadolu Company revealed 2 pilots parachuting out of the jet before it crashed.

This morning, news outlets are reporting that Turkey shot down a Russian Sukhoi fighter jet somewhere along the Turkey-Syria border.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the warplane crashed in the Turkmen Mountains region in the coastal province of Latakia.