Downed Russian warplane violated Turkish airspace: US
Moscow: A Russian warplane carrying the body of the killed pilot onboard of a Russian Su-24 which was shot down by Turkish air force last week, arrived at Chkalovsky airport in Moscow region on Monday, the Defense Ministry said in an online statement.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and commander-in-chief of Russia’ s Airspace Force Col. Gen. Viktor Bondarev met the plane, escorted by fighter jets, at the airfield, Xinhua reported.
According to Bondarev, “those who planned and carried out the betrayal would suffer from deserved punishment.”
The pilot, Lt. Col. Oleg Peshkov, was awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation posthumously.
Also on Monday, the Defense Ministry said the Russian Su-34 bombers, deployed to strike terrorists positions in Syria, used for the first time the air-to-air missiles during the flight mission.
“Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers flew for the first time on a mission not only with OFAB-500 bombs and KAB-500 guided aerial bombs, but also with short and medium range air-to-air missiles,” the ministry spokesman Igor Klimov said.
The missiles are equipped with target-seeking devices and are capable of hitting aerial targets at a distance of up to 60 kilometers, RIA Novosti news agency quoted Klimov as saying.
After the downing of the Su-24 warplane on November 24, Russia intensified airstrikes in Syria against the Turkey-backed rebels in northern Syrian on the Syria-Turkey borders, specifically targeting all convoys the rebels were receiving from Turkey via rebel-held Syrian border-crossings in the northern province of Aleppo.
Meanwhile in Washington, the US State Department said on Monday that the downed Russian warplane violated Turkish airspace, urging Russia and Turkey to de-escalate the situation through dialogue.
“The available information, including evidence from Turkey and our own sources, indicates the Russian aircraft violated Turkish airspace,” Xinhua quoted the US State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau as saying.
“We also know that the Turks warned the Russian pilots multiple times before the airspace violation, to which the Turks received no response.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree in order to impose thr economic sanctions against Turkey on Saturday.
Russia’s move came after Turkey shot down a Russia’s fighter jet last Tuesday, on November 24th with Turkey in return claiming that the Russian warplane violated the Turkish airspace, which Moscow vehemently denied and insisted the Su-24 fighter jet stayed over Syria during its flight.
“We support Turkey’s right to defend its territorial airspace,” Trudeau said. However, it is important now for Ankara and Moscow to take measures to de-escalate the tensions. (IANS)