Kerry heads to Moscow for tough Syria, Ukraine talks

A Russian warship has fired warning shots at a Turkish boat as the two vessels threatened to collide.

Speaking to Turkish media Sunday, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said more information was needed from the crew aboard the Turkish fishing boat before a proper response could be issued.

“Immediately after that the Turkish vessel drastically changed course and continued its movement past the Smetlivy at the distance of 540 metres without engaging in contact with the Russian crew”, the ministry said.

He said the OSCE member countries were still split over the Ukrainian crisis and topics linked with the “Turkish-Syrian troubles and Turkey’s actions in respect of Russia” could cause “an additional crisis”.

The defence ministry and the FSB security service did not comment.

The leaders of Russia and Turkey have been engaged in a war of words since the downing of the Russian fighter jet. Russian citizens were also advised to leave Turkey.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered sanctions against Turkey after a Russian military jet was shot down last month. The third condition was for Turkey to pay compensation for the damage Russian Federation has come across as a result of the incident. Turkey has alleged that it warned the Russian pilots to leave its sovereign airspace multiple times before firing, and Russia has said it never breached Turkish airspace.

“Turkey seems to be relying on Azerbaijan, and possibly some Central Asian republics, but people are forgetting how dependent these republics are on Russian Federation, how much under Russia’s shadow”.

“We are not in favour of tensions”.

“In case Russian Federation uses the excuse of technical problems to cut deliveries for short [the] term, Turkey has NG (Natural Gas) supplies, worth two to three days of Turkey’s needs. We have always been in favour of overcoming tensions through dialogue rather than conflict”, he added, quoted by Dogan news agency.

He also reiterated Turkey’s position that it wanted to resolve its difficulties with Russian Federation. He said “no one believed” Putin’s allegations.

“Regrettably, Russia does not struggle against terrorists in Syria”.

Russia, the United States, European and Middle Eastern countries agreed in Vienna last month on a two-year timeline leading to Syrian elections, but left many questions unresolved, most notably the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“Unfortunately Russia is not in Syria to fight terrorists”, he said, adding only eight percent of its air strikes had been aimed at ISIL, while 92 percent were against other groups hostile to Assad.