Istanbul, Dec 30 () - Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic has claimed Turkey attempted to start a war between NATO and Russia with the Nov. 24 downing of Russian warplane near the Syrian border.

Russian media quoted Nikolic as saying the downing of the Russian warplane was an attempt to involve NATO and Russia into a conflict with Syria.

“It was an attempt to involve the two powerful forces into one big military conflict with Syria” Nikolic said.

He also reminded that Turkish warplanes had violated Greek airspace many times but Greece did not down them, highlighting that such responses have serious consequences, as Turkey should have known.

Nikolic’s remarks came after Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s visit to Serbia on Dec. 29.

His office said Davutoğlu had voiced the country’s desire for the normalization of relations with Moscow during the meeting.