Turkey’s downing of Russian jet may lead to break in joint projects, says Dmitry Medvedev as Russian pilot returns to his base after being rescued in Syria
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvdev has warned that yesterday's diplomatic incident, in which Turkey downed a Russian jet as it flew near the border with Syria, could lead to a break in partnerships between the two countries.
Russia claims the SU-24 jet never strayed into Turkish airspace, while Turkey insists the plane's pilots – one of whom died – were warned 10 times in five minutes before it was shot down.
Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said the second pilot, a flight engineer, had been rescued in a 12-hour joint mission with Russian and Syrian armed forces in Syria, and was "alive and well."
Medvedev this morning said any "undermining of neighbourly relations between Moscow and Ankara" could lead to "refusal from important joint projects" as well as the "loss of Turkish companies' positions on Russian markets".
He added that a "dangerous escalation" between Russia and Nato "cannot be excused with any interests, including state border protection".
Turkey, a Nato member, called for an emergency meeting yesterday afternoon to discuss the issue. Both Nato and the US have called for "calm and de-escalation", backing Turkey's version of events. Nato's secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said: "Assessments we have got from several allies are consistent" with Ankara's account.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said the act was "a stab in the back", prompting investors to seek safe haven assets until the situation had been clarified.
Yesterday Russia told its citizens not to go on holiday in Turkey, while the defence ministry cut off contact with its Turkish counterpart. The Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov cancelled his trip to Ankara following the incident.