Russia announces sanctions over Turkey-Russia jet downing

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday called for sanctions against Turkey, following the downing this week by Turkey of a Russian warplane.

The Turkish government warned citizens against non-urgent travel to Russia, the latest in the mounting tensions between the two countries after the downing of a Russian fighter jet by Turkey.

Commenting on Russian nationals in Turkey who are considered as suspected terrorists by the Turkish authorities, Lavrov lashed out at Ankara for refusing many times to provide relevant information, saying there was a real threat of terrorists penetrating into Russia.

He responded after Mr Putin dismissed as “rubbish” Turkey’s claim that it would not have shot down the jet if it had known it was Russian.

Erdogan is seeking a face-to-face meeting with Putin, at the upcoming climate talks in Paris, but Kremlin officials say Russian Federation wants an apology from Turkey before any meeting.

Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s aide, said on Friday: “We see Turkey’s unwillingness to simply apologise for the incident with the plane”.

“We are truly saddened by this incident”, Erdogan told supporters in the western city of Balikesir.

Putin has called Turkey’s actions a “treacherous stab in the back” and maintained that the downed plane was flying over Syrian airspace, not Turkish.

Mr Erdogan warned Mr Putin about “playing with fire” in a speech in northeast Turkey, broadcast live on television.

“From our point of view, it is now hard to determine the level of predictability in the actions of the Turkish leadership”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview released Saturday. He has also refused to take telephone calls from Erdogan. On Monday, Paris will host the worldwide climate summit, this could be a chance to restore our relations with Russia”, Erdogan said, adding, “Confrontation will not make anyone happy.

The foreign ministry in Ankara said travel to Russian Federation should be avoided a day after Moscow – which had earlier urged its nationals to leave Turkey – announced it was scrapping its visa-free regime for Turkish visitors.

Turkey says the Russian warplane was in its airspace when the decision was taken to shoot it down on Tuesday – Russia insists the plane was flying over Syria at the time.