Turkey Pilots Warned Russian Jet 10 Times Before Shoot-Down

Turkish officials said the plane was shot down after it ignored repeated warnings over air space violations.

President Vladimir Putin said, “Today’s loss is connected with a blow, that was given us as a stab in the back from the accomplices of terrorists”.

The Ministry confirmed that the plane hadn’t violated Turkish airspace and was flying at an altitude of 6,000 meters.

Putin told Russia’s RT news service the plane was targeting terrorists in Syria’s Latakia province.

The warplane’s two pilots were able to eject themselves from the aircraft before it crashed.

An official told Reuters that two jets approached the border before one was shot down, and its data showed Turkish air space (in blue, above) was repeatedly violated. Sputnik quoted him as saying that the jet fell “four kilometers away from the border, within Syrian airspace”. “And they violated it knowingly”.

Putin, however, said the plane stayed within Syrian airspace and never encroached on Turkey’s territory.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has called an emergency meeting in light of the incident for Tuesday afternoon, and Russia’s charge d’affaires has been summoned to the Turkish foreign ministry.

In his remarks Tuesday, Putin mentioned a deconfliction agreement Moscow signed with Washington after Russian forces began bombing extremists in Syria last month in order to avoid risky clashes in a shared airspace. Turkey claims to be part of the US-led coalition fighting against ISIS in Syria, he added. But a Syrian rebel group said that at least one of the men was dead. They added the pilot’s of the plane were warned 10 times.

“Our pilots and our plane did not in any way threaten Turkey, that’s an obvious thing”.

CBS News correspondent Charlie D’Agata says unverified video posted by Syrian rebels from the area showed what appeared to be a lifeless Russian crewman.

During the talks with Jordanian King Abdullah in Sochi, Putin said “we won’t allow such crimes to take place”. Traditionally, Ankara has supported Syrian Turkmen, who are ethnically and linguistically close to Turks. The Turkomen Mountains region has been subjected to an offensive by Syrian government forces over the past several days under the cover of Russian airstrikes.