Putin Slams Turkey, Lavrov Cancels Turkey Trip
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made statements as to Russian warplane shot down by Turkish Armed Forces.
Putin gathering with Jordanian King Abdullah said, “The incident of Russian plane being shot down in Syria goes beyond framework of fight against terror. We have been stabbed in the back”.
CLICK - RUSSIAN WARPLANE SHOT DOWN BY TSK ON SYRIAN BORDER
“It was fighting against ISIS”
According to Sputnik news website, Putin briefly said the following:
“The warplane crashed in Syrian lands, four kilometers away from Turkish border. At the time of the attack, it was one kilometer away from the Turkish soil and flying at 6,000 meters of altitude. Russian plane and pilots by no means posed a threat to Turkey. It is very clear.
CLICK - KREMLIN: A VERY SERIOUS INCIDENT
“The downed plane in Syria was doing its task of battling ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria).
“It is a mountainous area deployed by predominantly militants of Russian (Chechen) origin. In this context, our planes were performing their duty of launching preventive attacks against terrorists.
“Turkey shot Russian plane despite Russia has an agreement with the U.S. over preventing such incidents”.
“Turkey called NATO instead of Russia”
CLICK - NATO CALLS FOR EXTRAORDINARY MEETING
“Shooting down the plane will have serious consequences on Turkish-Russian relations. Russia has approached Turkey not only as a neighbor, but also as a friend. I don’t know who benefited such a step but we don’t need that.
“Turkey right away called NATO instead of Russia like the plane was downed by Russia. What does Turkey want? Does Turkey want to put NATO into service of ISIS?”
“We will analyze everything with respect to our plane be downed”.
“Flow of oil”
“I understand every country has its own interests and we always treat it with respect. However, we can never tolerate crimes like this.
“We’ve known for a long time that a large amount of oil and oil products in terrorists’ possession goes to Turkey. Terror groups find huge amount of money from there”.
Jordanian Kind Abdullah too conveyed his condolences. “It is necessary to join forces to fight against ISIS. We shouldn’t restrict our actions to Syria and Iraq”, said Abdullah.
Natural Gas won't be cut off
Russian Vice Minister of Energy Anatoliy Yanovskiy said natural gas delivery to Turkey won't be cut off.
"Delivery proceeds in accordance with liabilities of the contract. It is not possible to imagine the opposite", said Yanovskiy speaking to TASS news agency.
Ambassadorial Undersecretary summoned
According to RİA Novosti news agency, Russian Ambassadorial Undersecretary to Ankara has been summoned to Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Russian Embassy to Ankara Press Secretary Igor Mityakov in his statement to RİA Novosti said, “We can confirm that Russian Ambassadorial Undersecretary to Ankara has been summoned to Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Nevertheless, we cannot make a statement as to content of the meeting”.
Lavrov has cancelled his trip to Turkey
Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov has cancelled his trip to Turkey to be held on November 25.
The minister has also warned Russian citizens of not travelling to Turkey.
"Terror threat in Turkey is no less than in Egypt", added Lavrov. (AS/TK)
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