MOSCOW — The Kremlin sharpened its accusations Wednesday in the wake of Turkey’s downing of a Russian warplane, as Moscow’s top diplomat called the incident a “planned provocation” that has dealt a blow to already fragile relations with NATO.
But Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also tamped down speculation of a military response by Russia after Tuesday’s incident along the Turkish-Syrian border. “We’re not going to war against Turkey,” he said after talks with his Turkish counterpart.
Lavrov’s comments offered the clearest signals that Moscow views the downing as more than an accidental mishap as Russia steps up its airstrikes in Syria to support the embattled government of President Bashar al-Assad.
Turkey and its Western allies have backed rebel groups seeking to topple Assad in Syria’s nearly five-year civil war. “We have serious doubts this was an unintended incident and believe this is a planned provocation,” Lavrov said after discussions with Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu
Earlier, Russian officials said one of two Russian pilots shot down by Turkey over the Syrian border has been rescued in a special operation following the first downing of one of its planes by a NATO ally since the Cold War.
“One on board was wounded when he parachuted down and killed in a savage way on the ground by the jihadists in the area,” ambassador to France Alexandre Orlov told Europe 1 radio, speaking about the downed plane’s pilots. “The other managed to escape and, according to the latest information, has been picked up by the Syrian army and should be going back to the Russian air force base.”
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu later confirmed from Moscow that the navigator from the plane had been rescued and was “alive and well.” Russia launched a desperate search-and-rescue effort for the pilot Tuesday, which was also marred by tragedy when an Mi-8 helicopter was blown up apparently by an anti-tank missile fired by Syrian rebels, killing one marine.
Russia also said Wednesday it would take new measures in Syria to protect its aircraft, deploying powerful S-400 anti-air missile systems, which have a range of nearly 250 miles, to Russia’s Khmeimim airbase in northwestern Syria. The airbase is located a little under 20 miles from the Turkish border, and has the potential to create headaches for Turkish and other aircraft in a U.S.-led coalition that are carrying out a separate airstrike campaign in Syria.
Russian President Vladimir V. Putin has emphasized the limited nature of Russia’s nearly two-month old airstrike campaign in Syria’s civil war, promising that Russia would not deploy soldiers to protect embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Tuesday marked the first confirmed deaths of Russian soldiers in combat in Syria.
Turkish F-16s shot down the Russian Su-24 jet Tuesday after it allegedly crossed from Syrian airspace into Turkey. Turkey said its pilots had warned the Russian pilots multiple times over the radio before opening fire. Russia said its pilots had not crossed into Syrian airspace, were not contacted by Turkish authorities, and claimed that Turkey was sheltering the Islamic State from Russian attacks.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev Wednesday threatened that the “damage will be hard to repair, and its direct consequence might be the refusal from a number of important joint projects and Turkish companies’ loss of their positions on the Russian market.”
Putin Tuesday called the incident “a stab in the back from the accomplices of terrorism,” meaning Turkey. On Wednesday, Putin said the commander of the craft, who was shot at by Syrian rebels as he parachuted toward the ground, would posthumously be awarded the Hero of Russia star, Russia’s equivalent of the Medal of Honor.
Russian officials have discussed various responses in the press, including a ban on Turkish airlines or canceling a proposed gas pipeline between the two countries.
The government has not taken any concrete steps other than to recommend Russian tourists not visit Turkey. Russian tour operators have cancelled most of their budget tour packages to Turkish resorts, the Interfax news service reported. More than three million tourists visited the popular vacation destination from Russia last year.
Tuesday’s downing of the Russian attack aircraft marked a serious escalation in the Syrian conflict that appeared likely to further strain relations between Russia and the NATO alliance.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday, though, that his country does not wish to escalate tensions with Russia over the incident, the Associated Press reported.
Speaking at an Organization of Islamic Cooperation economy meeting in Istanbul Wednesday, Erdogan said Turkey favors “peace, dialogue and diplomacy.”
He defended his country’s move to shoot down the plane saying “no one should expect Turkey to stay silent to border violations or the violation of its rights,” the AP said.
The downing brought renewed attention to a scenario feared for months by the Pentagon and its partners: a potential conflict arising from overlapping air missions over Syria — with Russia backing the al-Assad government and a U.S.-led coalition conducting airstrikes against the Islamic State.
Turkish officials have accused Russia of repeated airspace violations since it launched airstrikes against Assad’s armed opposition in late September.
In Washington, President Obama called for de-escalation but said Turkey had the right to defend its airspace.
Turkey called for an emergency NATO session to discuss the incident but has not invoked alliance provisions that would involve other members in its defense.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said after the meeting that NATO allies with intelligence assets near where Turkey shot down the Russian warplane had confirmed Turkey’s version of events and rejected Russia’s claim that its aircraft was flying over Syria and had not crossed into Turkish airspace.
“The information we have from other allies is consistent with what we have got from Turkey,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.
“This is a serious situation” that calls for prudence and de-escalation, Stoltenberg said. “We have to avoid that situations, incidents, accidents spiral out of control.”
A U.S. military spokesman confirmed that Turkish pilots issued 10 notifications to their Russian counterparts warning that they were in Turkish airspace and that the Russians did not respond.
“On the radio . . . we were able to hear everything that was going on,” said Col. Steve Warren, spokesman at the Baghdad headquarters for U.S. forces operating in Iraq and Syria.
Although Turkey and the United States oppose Assad, their warplanes have avoided the Syrian leader’s military and are instead bombarding the Islamic State militant group, which controls parts of Syria and Iraq. Russian aircraft have primarily hit non-Islamic State rebels, including some groups that are backed by the United States and Turkey.
The fallout could complicate a diplomatic push to bring greater international coordination to the fight against the Islamic State. The radical group has claimed responsibility for the Nov. 13 Paris attacks that killed at least 130, as well as the Oct. 31 downing of a Russian passenger plane over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula that killed all 224 aboard.
French President François Hollande met with Obama in Washington on Tuesday to discuss strategies against the Islamic State and parallel efforts to seek a negotiated end to Syria’s civil war.
Hollande is expected to meet later in the week with Putin and other world leaders.
In early November, the United States deployed additional fighter aircraft to Turkey’s Incirlik air base to help the country protect its airspace.
Friction between Ankara and Moscow has also intensified over alleged Russian airstrikes on Syrian villages dominated by Turkmen, an ethnic minority with cultural ties to Turkey.
Last month, Turkey’s military downed an unmanned aerial vehicle near the border with Syria that military analysts said appeared to be Russian-made. Officials in Moscow denied connection to that downed aircraft and sent a delegation to Turkey to smooth over concerns.
Russia issued a formal apology to Turkey in early October when a jet violated Turkish airspace and Turkish F-16s were scrambled to intercept the plane. The Russians called the mistake “a navigational error.”
Russia has carried out more than 4,000 airstrikes since the beginning of its intervention in Syria, using a force of modern and modified Soviet-era aircraft. Russia has at least 32 fixed-wing aircraft and 16 helicopters at the Khmeimim air base near Latakia, an Assad stronghold on the Mediterranean Sea just 30 miles from the Turkish border.
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