MOSCOW=>Russia's foreign minister on Wednesday said the throw
down of its fighter jet by Turkey performed to be a “planned provocation"
but said the countries would not go to war over the happening.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow,
“We have serious doubts about this being an unpremeditated act; it really looks
like a planned provocation”
He said, “Such attacks are absolutely unacceptable".
Russian authorities reacted crossly to the throw down of the Russian
Su-24 warplane on the Syrian border on Tuesday.
“We do not plan to go to war with Turkey, our attitude toward the
Turkish people has not changed,” Lavrov added, emphasizing that Moscow would
however “seriously reevaluate” its ties with Ankara.
Meanwhile Turkey's military said the fighter was shot down by two of
its F-16s after it violated Turkish airspace 10 times within a five-minute
period.
The Turkish Ambassador to the United Nations Halit Cevik said in a
letter to the Security Council that two Russian planes had flown a little more
than a mile into Turkish airspace for 17 seconds.
Ankara and Moscow are already on rival sides in the Syrian civil war
that has lasted over four years, with Turkey defective to see the ouster of
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad while Russia remains one of his last remaining
allies.
Both Putin and Lavrov have warned Russian citizens against
travelling to Turkey in the aftermath of the incident, citing terrorist threats
in the country. Russia's top diplomat said Wednesday the country was not preparation
on hosting any Turkish officials or expecting making any official visits to
Turkey.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also said his
country does not wish to escalate tensions with Russia over the downing of the
plane.
Speaking at an Organization of Islamic Collaboration economy meeting
in Istanbul, Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey favors “peace, interchange
and mediation.”
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