MOSCOW, February 4. /TASS/. Ankara has not provided a single piece of evidence Russian planes violated its airspace, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said.
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"None of the planes from the Russian air group in Syria has violated the Turkish border," she said. "Ankara has not yet provided any facts to back up its charges. There have been no replies to direct requests from the embassy to provide such information, either."
Similar queries addressed to NATO are ignored, as well.
"Considering Turkish statements that it was NATO to be the first to register acts of airspace violations allegedly by Russian aircraft, we have requested air data records from the commanding staff of the North-Atlantic [Treaty] Alliance, however, they have yet failed to provide us with any convincing evidence," Zakharova said.
Zakharova dismissed as blackmail Ankara’s warnings the alleged air incident would entail dire consequences for bilateral relations.
According to the diplomat, Turkey covers up its military activity on border with Syria by accusing Russia.
"It seems that all ungrounded accusations in regard to the Russian Aerospace Force are voiced by Ankara in order to find an excuse or maybe use it is a cover for stepping up its military activities in the area of the Turkish-Syrian border," the Russian diplomat said.
Zakharova also pointed out that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has no plans to meet with Turkey's representatives.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry earlier claimed that a Russian Su-34 fighter jet violated its airspace on January 29. "Yesterday the Russian Aerospace Forces’ Su-34 violated Turkish airspace. Before the violation, Turkish radar stations repeatedly warned the Russian aircraft in Russian and in English," the statement said.
It said that on January 29 in the evening "the ambassador of the Russian Federation was summoned to the ministry" and a protest was lodged to him in connection with what happened. The Turkish ministry did not state where the alleged airspace violation occurred exactly.