“They will regret what they’ve done”, says Putin

Last Tuesday, the previously strong relationships between Turkey and Russia changed to a long period of tension, when a Russian jet was shot down by Turkish forces.

Whether the plane violated Turkish airspace is still disputed, but the plane was shot down near the Syria-Turkey border. According to Turkey, the Su-24 Russian warplane had ignored 10 warnings.

NATO, which Turkey is a member of, supports Turkey in this claim, and said “when Russian jets violated Turkish airspace a few weeks ago, the Council did meet in an extraordinary session, which resulted in a condemnation of the incursion.”

Moscow denies, this however. Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the downing of the plane, and vowed “serious consequences”. The shooting of the plane, he said, “represents a stab in the back by the terrorists’ accomplices. I can’t describe what has happened today in any other way. Our plane was downed over Syrian territory by an air-to-air missile from a Turkish F-16 jet.” According to Putin, the plane fell 4 kms from the Turkish border, and was therefore fighting ISIL troops. 

A Russian warplane goes down in Syria’s Byirbucak Region, near the Turkish border, on Nov. 24, 2015.

One of the plane’s pilots was killed, while another was rescued.

Russia has indeed been bombing ISIS forces in Syria for a while now, with at least 34 planes deployed to the region, but has been questioned before, including by US President Obama,  whether Russia is adequately prioritising ISIS targets.

Russia has accused Turkey of illegal involvement of oil trading with ISIS, the terrorist group responsible for many atrocities, including the November 13 attacks.

Turkey strongly opposes the Syrian Assad regime, while Russia backs it. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad weighed into the case between one of his closest backers and his hostile neighbor, stating this Sunday to a reporter from Czech Television, that Turkey’s shooting of Russia’s jet “has shown the real intention of Erdogan (President of Turkey) , who, let’s say, lost his nerve just because the Russian intervention has changed the balance on the ground.”