VIDEO: Turkey Shoots Down Russian Warplane For Violating Airspace, Putin Vows ‘Significant Consequences’

“”Turkey shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 military plane near its border with Syria on Tuesday. This is the first time a Russian plane has been shot down by a NATO member since the 1950s.

The warplane went down into a cloud of smoke in Syria’s northwestern town of Bayirbucak near the mountainous Jabal Turkmen area very close to the border of Turkey. The crash site is about two and half miles from the Turkish border.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the plane was hit by an air-to-air missile launched by two Turkish F-16s jets while traveling at an altitude of 20,000-feet about a kilometer from the Turkish border. Russia claimed that he plane was targeting terrorist targets in the Latakia province of Syria, and that “The plane stayed exclusively above the territory of Syria throughout the entire flight.”

“The aircraft entered Turkish airspace over the town of Yaylidag, in the southeastern Hatay province,” Turkey said in a statement. “The plane was warned 10 times in the space of 5 minutes before it was taken down.”

The two pilots ejected from the plane. However, a rebel group in Syria said that they had captured one of the pilots, but he was dead upon landing. The fate of the second pilot wasn’t immediately known.

You can see graphic video of Turkmen rebels claiming they killed the Russian pilots here.

Another unconfirmed video reportedly shows rebels shooting the pilots while floating down in their parachutes.

“”Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the downing of the plane “a very serious incident.” There is much debate as to exactly where the Russian warplane was.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on the situation:

“This incident stands out against the usual fight against terrorism. Our troops are fighting heroically against terrorists, risking their lives. But the loss we suffered today came from a stab in the back delivered by accomplices of the terrorists. We have always treated Turkey as not only a close neighbor, but also as a friendly nation. I don’t know who has an interest in what happened today, but we certainly don’t.

We will analyze everything, and today’s tragic event will have significant consequences, including for Russia-Turkish relations. We have always treated Turkey as a friendly state. I don’t know who was interested in what happened today, certainly not us. And instead of immediately getting in contact with us, as far as we know, the Turkish side immediately turned to their partners from NATO to discuss this incident, as if we shot down their plane and not they ours.”

Putin stated that Russia has noticed that oil has been going from ISIS-controlled areas of Syria to Turkey, and even suggested that Turkey buys oil from Daesh or exchanges protection for oil:

“IS has big money, hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars, from selling oil. In addition they are protected by the military of an entire nation. One can understand why they are acting so boldly and blatantly. Why they kill people in such atrocious ways. Why they commit terrorist acts across the world, including in the heart of Europe.”

Putin is meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan on Tuesday.

Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu also commented on the situation:

“We want the international community to know that we are ready for any kind of sacrifice when the security and life of our citizens and our border security are concerned. The downing of a jet that had violated Turkish airspace today has to be seen in this context as well.

We do not adopt an approach that impeaches on the sovereignty of any country. But the world needs to know that it is our international right and our national duty to take measures against anybody who violates our borders on the land and in the air, in spite of our many warnings.”

In early October, Turkey complained of repeated airspace violations by Russian aircraft. This prompted Nato to issue a protest. Later that month, Turkey shot down a Russian drone that they deemed to be in their airspace.

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Russia has been attacking Syrian rebels and ISIS with air strikes since late September to help bring the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a Russian ally, back into power.