Turkey Shoots Down Russian Jet Near Border

A furious Vladimir Putin labelled Turkey “accomplices of terrorists” and warned of “serious consequences” after a Turkish F-16 jet shot down a Russian warplane on Tuesday morning, the first time a Nato country and Moscow have exchanged direct fire over the crisis in Syria.

Putin, speaking ahead of a meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan in Sochi, said the plane had been shot down over Syrian airspace, and fell 4km inside Syria. Putin said it was “obvious” that the plane posed no threat to Turkey.

“Our military is doing heroic work against terrorism … But the loss today is a stab in the back, carried out by the accomplices of terrorists. I can’t describe it in any other way,” said the Russian leader. Putin suggested the Turks were shielding Islamic State terrorists from Russian attacks: “Do they want to make Nato serve Isis?”

Ankara and the Kremlin gave conflicting accounts of the incident, which appears to have occurred in an area near the Turkish-Syrian border straddling Iskenderun and Latakia.

The Turkish military said it scrambled two F-16 fighter jets after a plane entered Turkish airspace in the province of Hatay at 9.20am on Tuesday, warning it to leave 10 times in five minutes before shooting it down.

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