Erdogan and Putin to meet in Paris

Russia has said it will tighten controls over Turkish food imports, as it stepped up its economic response to the downing of a Russian jet by Turkish forces on the Turkey-Syria border. Turkey has so far refused to apologize for shooting the plane, citing border violation despite several warning as the reason.

Dalia Mortada reports for NPR that the surviving Russian pilot continues to deny the signal.

Ahead of the Hollande talks, Mr Putin and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan traded barbs, with the Russian leader saying he was waiting for an apology and Mr Erdogan ruling out any such move.

The spat between the two countries has intensified since the downing of the plane.

“We will, of course, carefully analyze everything that happened”, Putin said at a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet on Tuesday morning close to the Syrian border leading to a crisis between the two countries.

Syrian rebels released a video apparently showing the dead body of the second pilot, who was identified by Russian Federation as Lt. Col. Oleg Peshkov.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the November 13 attacks in Paris, as well as deadly bombings in Beirut and the downing of a Russian airplane on October 31 that killed all 224 people on board over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

The UN and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation called for calm and for now at least, cool heads have prevailed.

Upon the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government, Russian warplanes have been conducting air raids over Syria since early October.

The clash between Russian and Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member, threatens to draw global powers into the conflict. The alliance has backed Turkey’s version of events, although it, too, is calling for “diplomacy and de-escalation” to resolve the situation. “They are going to Turkey day and night”.

But he said he would order Russia’s military to intensify cooperation with the French armed forces – including exchanges of information about targets – and viewed that as part of creating a broader global coalition bringing together Russian Federation and Western states.