Erdogan expresses regret over jet downing

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that “Turkey’s reactions to the incident… reminds of the Theatre of the Absurd”.

It was his first expression of regret since Turkish F-16s shot down the Russian jet Tuesday on grounds of violating Turkey’s airspace despite repeated warnings.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a series of sanctions against Turkey over the country’s shooting down of a Russian warplane on November 24, Russian news agencies reported Saturday.

“It will be very hard to mend bilateral relations after such quite devastating damage”.

Erdogan said he wished the incident had not happened but continued to defend Turkey’s actions. Russian Federation has been using the base to attack opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad since late September.

Asked why Mr Putin has not picked up the phone to respond to Mr Erdogan’s two calls, he said “we have seen that the Turkish side hasn’t been ready to offer an elementary apology over the plane incident”. As Russia is important for Turkey, Turkey is important for Russia. The pledge came with the condition that Russian and American leaders would have to meet to discuss the downed Russian warplane, which Turkey is responsible for.

“What we tell Russian Federation is ‘Let’s talk about this issue within its boundaries and let’s settle it. Let’s not make others happy by hurting our relationship”, he said, adding that he believed it would be an opportunity to fix their relations at the climate change summit in Paris on Monday.

Russia on Saturday imposed de facto economic sanctions on Turkey, including suspension of a visa waiver program, in retaliation for the recent downing of a Russian bomber by Turkish forces.

Mr Putin has also accused Turkey of buying oil from the so-called Islamic State group, whose financing heavily relies on the sale of energy resources.

Mr Lavrov said Turkey had “crossed the line”. Both pilots parachuted out of the burning aircraft after it was struck, but one was found dead in Syria while the second was found safe and unhurt.