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A portrait of Russian Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Peshkov among flowers outside the Russian Defence Ministry building in Moscow on Thursday. Peshkov died when his SU-24 bomber jet was downed by a Turkish F-16 fighter. Photo: EPA
Russia threatened economic retaliation against Turkey on Thursday and said it was still awaiting a reasonable explanation for the shooting down of one of its warplanes this week, but Turkey dismissed the threats as “emotional” and “unfitting.”
In an escalating war of words, President Tayyip Erdogan responded to Russian accusations that Turkey has been buying oil and gas from Islamic State in Syria by accusing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his backers, which include Moscow, of being the real source of the group's financial and military power.
The shooting down of the jet by the Turkish air force on Tuesday was one of the most serious clashes between a Nato member and Russia, and further complicated international efforts to battle Islamic State militants.
World leaders have urged both sides to avoid escalation. In an apparent attempt to cool the dispute - and appeal to Western countries - Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a letter to Britain's Times newspaper that Ankara would work with its allies and Russia to “calm tensions”.
Earlier, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered his government to draw up measures that would include freezing some joint investment projects and restricting food imports from Turkey.
Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said Moscow could put limits on flights to and from Turkey, halt preparations for a joint free trade zone, and restrict high-profile projects including the TurkStream gas pipeline and a US$20 billion nuclear power plant Russia is building in Turkey.
Russia's defence ministry meanwhile said it had suspended all cooperation with the Turkish military, including a hotline set up to share information on Russian air strikes in Syria, the TASS news agency reported.
“We are strategic partners ... 'Joint projects may be halted, ties could be cut'? Are such approaches fitting for politicians?,” Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara.
“First the politicians and our militaries should sit down and talk about where errors were made and then focus on overcoming those errors on both sides. But instead, if we make emotional statements like this, that wouldn't be right.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was still awaiting a reasonable answer from Ankara on why it downed the fighter jet. Moscow insists it never left Syrian air space, but Ankara says it crossed the border despite repeated warnings.
The Turkish foreign ministry said diplomatic missions and Turkish business interests in Russia had come under attack and said Russia's ambassador in Ankara had been summoned in protest.
Erdogan said the Russian jet was shot down as an “automatic reaction” to the violation of Turkish air space, in line with standing orders given to the military.
Those instructions were a separate issue to disagreements with Russia over Syria policy, he said, adding Ankara would continue to support moderate rebels in Syria and Turkmen fighters battling President Assad's forces.
Erdogan told CNN that Russia, not Turkey, should be the one to apologise for the incident. And in an interview with France 24, he said he had called Putin after the jet was shot down but that the Russian leader had not yet called him back.
Medvedev on Wednesday alleged that Turkish officials were benefiting from Islamic State oil sales, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it was no secret that “terrorists” use Turkish territory.
“Shame on you. It's clear where Turkey buys its oil and gas ... Those who claim we are buying oil from Daesh like this must prove their claims. Nobody can slander this country,” Erdogan said, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.
“If you are seeking the source of weaponry and financial power of Daesh, the first place to look is the Assad regime and countries that act with it,” he said.
Moscow says its military involvement in Syria is aimed at battling terrorist groups including Islamic State, casting the campaign to a supportive Russian public as a moral crusade that must be completed despite obstruction from elsewhere.
Turkey and its allies say Russia's real aim is to prop up its ally Assad and that it has been bombing moderate opposition groups in areas of Syria like Latakia, where the jet was downed, and where there is little or no Islamic State presence.
Putin invites British experts to help analyse black box of downed warplane
AFP
December 10, 2015, 4:45 am
Moscow (AFP) - Russia on Wednesday invited British experts to help analyse the black box of a warplane downed by Turkey, as President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed to cooperate over Syria.
Britain offered its assistance to Russia two weeks after Turkey downed a Russian warplane in Syria, leading to a severe crisis in ties with Moscow.
On Wednesday Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said his country was ready to work with Moscow to prevent a repeat of the November 24 incident but also accused Moscow of pursuing a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" in Syria.
"Vladimir Putin invited British specialists to take part in decoding flight data recorders of the downed Su-24," the Kremlin said after the phone talks with Cameron.
Cameron's office said for its part that the prime minister would "consider President Putin?s request to send British experts to assist the investigation."
A Cameron spokesman told reporters earlier in the day: "We're always happy to help and assist other countries in issues of security."
Russia has recovered the black box recording flight data from the fighter jet and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu showed the orange-painted box to Putin during a Kremlin meeting on Tuesday evening.
Putin said at the Kremlin meeting that it should be analysed with the involvement of foreign experts to determine the plane's flight path and position, points on which Moscow and Ankara furiously disagree.
Cameron, whose country last week launched its own bombing campaign in Syria, expressed condolences over the downing, the Kremlin said in a statement.
"It has been noted that Russia and Britain have similar approaches regarding the threat from ISIL and other terrorist groups operating in the region," the Kremlin said, referring to the Islamic State (IS) group.
The two leaders also discussed ramping up cooperation "in this context", the statement said without elaborating.
- 'Tackling Daesh together' -
Cameron's office struck a similar note, saying Cameron called Putin to update him on Britain's Syria campaign.
"The prime minister and president agreed that the UK and Russia should work together, with other international partners, to tackle Daesh and the threat it poses, and on the political process to bring peace to Syria," it said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.
Russia has been pushing for establishing a broad anti-IS coalition since launching its controversial bombing campaign in Syria in September.
After the November 13 Paris attacks Putin hosted French President Francois Hollande in Moscow, with the two agreeing to increase cooperation on Syria and share intelligence.
The Kremlin however has lamented that global powers such as the United States, which has been bombing IS targets in Syria together with its allies for more than a year, are not ready to form a coalition with Russia.
Relations between Moscow and London have been tense for years.
Russia recently criticised Britain for suggesting that a bomb caused the crash of a Russian passenger plane over Sinai in October before the investigation was completed.
- 'Ethnic cleansing' -
The downing of the jet has led to a severe crisis in ties between Moscow and Ankara, with Russia hitting Turkey with a raft of sanctions.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Wednesday he was "ready to work" with Russia to prevent a repeat of last month's incident.
But he also accused Russia of pursuing a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" in Syria and strengthening IS.
"Russia is trying to make ethnic cleansing in the northern Latakia (region) to force (out) all Turkmen and Sunni populations who do not have good relations with the (Syrian) regime," Davutoglu told foreign reporters in Istanbul.
Putin and Cameron spoke as a broad range of Syrian opposition groups, including armed factions, held unprecedented talks in the Saudi capital on forming a united front for talks with Bashar al-Assad.
Russia said Wednesday that Moscow, Washington and the United Nations would hold Syria talks in Geneva on Friday in an effort to end a war that has killed more than 250,000 people and forced millions from their homes since March 2011.
