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Moscow hopes Turkey learned a lesson from last year’s downing of Russian jet

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said "it is very simple to mar relations, but it is very difficult to bring things back to the former level"
A monument at the grave of Russian pilot Oleg Peshkov who was killed while flying a Sukhoi Su 24 jet during a Russian military operation in Syria  Alexander Ryumin/TASS
A monument at the grave of Russian pilot Oleg Peshkov who was killed while flying a Sukhoi Su 24 jet during a Russian military operation in Syria
© Alexander Ryumin/TASS

MOSCOW, November 24. /TASS/. Russia believes that Turkey has learned a lesson from last year’s tragedy in which a Russian Su-24 bomber was shot down by Turkey and a pilot was killed, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

"As for the tragedy that occurred a year ago, it seems to me that it is the Turkish side that must give comments on this day, not us," she said. "We said a lot, and it should be noted that the Turkish side has made adequate conclusions, on the basis of which and after respective statements, the decision was made to restore relations," she added.

"I think that the Turkish side has drawn necessary lessons," she added. "And accordingly, a mechanism for restoration of relations was launched," she said.

Zakharova said "it is very simple to mar relations, but it is very difficult to bring things back to the former level" and although Russia is demonstrating a bid to get relations back on track, "it is a long process as much time has been missed".

Russian-Turkish relations soured after Russia’s Sukhoi Su-24 frontline bomber from the Russian air task force crashed in Syria on November 24, 2015, hit by an air-to-air missile fired from a Turkish F-16 fighter jet.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the downed Su-24 plane posed no threat to Turkey as it was carrying out an operation against the Islamic State terrorist organization outlawed in Russia, calling the attack "a stab in Russia’s back delivered by terrorists’ accomplices."

He warned the attack would have serious consequences and demanded from the Turkish leadership to apologize, punish those responsible and reimburse for the damage.