MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/. Russian President Vladmir Putin says Turkey is deliberately steering the relations with Russia into a dead end, as neither apologies nor compensation proposals for the downed plane have been announced so far.
"We have not heard yet apologies from the highest political level of Turkey. Nor do we hear proposals to repair the damage or promises to punish the perpetrators for the committed crime," Putin said. He added that "one gets the impression that the Turkish leadership is deliberately steering the Russian-Turkish relations into the dead end, this is regrettable."
The president noted that "what happened two days ago in the sky over Syria runs counter to common sense and international law: the aircraft was shot down over Syrian territory."
The head of state stressed that Russia regards as utterly unexplainable the treacherous stabs in the back it gets from those it had regarded as partners in the struggle with terrorism.
"We see as absolutely unexplainable the treacherous stabs in the back from those we had seen as our partners and allies in the anti-terrorist struggle," he said, adding that he was referring to the incident of two days ago, when the Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian frontline bomber Sukhoi-24. The president was speaking at a ceremony of receiving credentials from newly-appointed foreign ambassadors on Thursday.
Russia’s Su-24M bomber was shot down on Tuesday by an air-to-air missile fired by an F-16 fighter jet of the Turkish Air Force. One pilot was killed while the other was rescued and taken to the Russian air base. During the operation to rescue the pilot, a Mi-8 helicopter was damaged by gunfire and a soldier was killed.
Turkey claims that the downed Russian combat plane violated Turkey’s air space. However, the Russian Defense Ministry has said that the Su-24M flew over Syria and the air space was violated by the Turkish plane that attacked Russia’s bomber.
The Russian General Staff has warned that Russia will destroy all potentially dangerous targets over Syria and announced about the plans to move the missile cruiser Moskva with the Fort missile system equivalent to the S-300 antiaircraft missile complex to the Syrian coast.
IS emergence results from ‘passiveness’ of some states
According to the Russian leader, the emergence of the Islamic State group results from the passiveness of some states and their accomplicity of terrorism.
"I remind that it is the passiveness of some countries and often direct accomplicity of terrorism that has led to the emergence of the awful phenomenon - the so-called Islamic State," Putin told the ceremony.
The Russian leader stressed that "any attempts to whitewash terrorism and connive at terrorism should be considered as de facto complicity in terror and complicity in crimes."
"Terrorists and their illegal trade in oil, humans, drugs, pieces of art and weapons were not only covered up and are being covered up, but someone continues earning money on this," Putin said. "They earn hundreds of millions and billions of dollars."
The president also stressed he expects an international counter-terrorism coalition to be formed and to support Russia’s successful operation in Syria.
"I hope that a real broad international coalition will be finally formed to become a coordinated, powerful force, and, in particular, will support actions of the Russian military conducting successful operations against terrorist groups and structures in Syria," Putin said as he accepted credentials of ambassadors from 15 countries in the Kremlin.
"I’d like to hope the understanding of the need to unite efforts of the international community against terror will come after the terrorist attack on the Russian airliner in Egypt, the tragic events in France and cruel massacres in Lebanon, Nigeria and Mali," he said.
"We believe all countries are interested in this coordinated joint work," Putin added.