Putin: Turkey will regret warplane downing ‘for a long time’

The leaders of Turkey and Russia flung insults at each other Thursday in their deepening feud over the shooting down of a Russian warplane, with President Vladimir Putin warning that Moscow would do more than merely ban tomatoes and construction projects to penalize Ankara.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned the bombing and called Turkey “accomplices of terrorists, ” the Guardian reported.

Putin, who made the comments during his annual state of the nation speech to his country’s political elite on Thursday, said Russian Federation would not forget the November 24 incident and that he continued to regard it as a bad betrayal.

“We’ll remind them of what they did, more than once”. “The terrorists are using these receipts to recruit mercenaries, buy weapons and plan inhuman terrorist attacks”.

US, French and British jets have targeted Islamic-controlled oil fields in Syria as part of a campaign to cut the financial lifeline of the militant group.

Turkey released three of four Russian ships that it detained this month at a Black Sea port for maritime safety violations, according to data on the website of Port State Control for the Black Sea.

Putin opened his address with a call for a minute’s silence to honour the Russian pilot killed in the Turkish attack.

Although the downing of the jet has unleashed a trade war between Russian Federation and Turkey, they may ultimately be unwilling to sacrifice their deep economic ties. “They’ll regret it. We know what to do”.

The octopus is likely a direct reference to the ongoing allegations of corruption against Erdogan and his family, as well as his family’s alleged role in supporting the ISIS oil trade. At the same time, the breach with Russian Federation also seems to be pushing Erdogan closer to the United States and the European Union after years of stalemate in Turkey’s EU accession process. “Either they change their position or we’ll have to wait for a new leadership” in Turkey, he added.

At a briefing in Moscow, defence ministry officials displayed satellite images which they said showed columns of tanker trucks loading with oil at installations controlled by Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and then crossing the border into neighbouring Turkey.

The Turkish strongman visited Qatar this week and agreed a liquified natural gas deal, while his Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu travelled to energy-rich Azerbaijan.

Speaking at a separate meeting with Russian military officers awarded with medals for their action in Syria, Putin said that “positive things have happened there thanks to you and your comrades, who have been working in the air, and, in fact, have been leading the Syrian military units”.

Senior officials on both sides say the volatile, sometimes impetuous personalities of the leaders complicate reaching a compromise because neither wants to be seen to be giving in.

Putin did, however, threaten further unspecified actions beyond the scattered measures already announced.