(Updates)
Öykü Altuntaş / Moscow, Nov 24 () - Russian President Vladimir Putin said, “The attack against Su-24 plane in Syria goes beyond normal struggle against terrorism” adding that the incident was a “stab in Russia’s back delivered by terrorist accomplices”.
Speaking during a televised meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah II in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Putin argued the Islamic State (IS) had the “protection of a nation’s military.”
The Russian Su-24 fighter-bomber was "posing no threat to Turkey", according to Putin's statement, reported Russian news agency TASS.
Russia's Sukhoi Su-24 attack aircraft was “shut down with an air-to-air missile launched from a Turkish F-16 plane, when the bomber was at an altitude of 6,000 meters at a distance of 1 km from the Turkish bomber”, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
Putin defined the incident “a crime”, while stressing “Russia would not tolerate it”.
The president also urged the attack on the Russian jet would have “tragic consequences to Russia-Turkey ties.”
"Today’s loss is linked with a stab in our back delivered by terrorism accomplices. I can’t characterize otherwise what has happened today" the Russian leader said.
Russia has always treated Turkey not simply as a close neighbour, but as a friendly state, he added.
Meanwhile, Turkey's military attache in Russia has been summoned to the Russian Defense Ministry, TASS agency reported.
A Russian-made SU-24 jet has been shot down on Nov. 24 near the Syrian border "after it violated Turkish airspace", presidential sources have said.
