Russia took new steps to protect its aircraft in Syria on Tuesday as U.S. and NATO officials urged calm over the downing of a Russian attack jet by Turkish fighters amid concern that the incident represents a dangerous escalation in an already complex situation.
Turkish officials said the Russian Su-24 was given 10 warnings in five minutes after it strayed into Turkish airspace along the Syrian border before being shot down by two F-16 fighter jets, the official Anatolia news agency said.
“This incident happened within the framework of the rules of engagement that Turkey had already announced,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. “No one should have any doubt that we have done our best to avoid this incident.”
But Russian President Vladimir Putin called the shootdown “a stab in the back.”
“This event goes beyond the fight against terrorism. Of course, our servicemen are engaged in a heroic struggle against terrorism, not sparing themselves or their own lives. But today’s loss is related to a stab in the back, carried out against us by accomplices of terrorists. I cannot otherwise describe what happened today,” Putin said in Sochi, Russia, as he met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II.
Russia’s Defense Ministry ordered fighter escorts for future attacks and dispatched the missile-armed cruiser Moskva to help provide air cover.
“We caution that any targets representing a potential danger for us will be destroyed,” Lt. Gen Sergei Rudskoi, a spokesman for the Russian general staff, said in a statement.
Moscow also cut off military contacts with Turkey and canceled a scheduled visit to Ankara by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Russian officials confirmed that one of the downed jet’s two pilots had been shot dead while parachuting to the ground after ejecting from the aircraft. Turkmen rebels in Syria told reporters that their forces shot both pilots dead as they descended in parachutes, but the fate of the second pilot could not be confirmed.
A Russian naval infantryman was reported killed in a later attack on a helicopter searching for the second pilot.
Meanwhile, the two countries traded accusations over where the jet was when it was shot down, with Turkey, backed by NATO officials, saying it had strayed across its border and Russia insisting the plane was on an attack mission inside Syria.
“Analysis of the objective monitoring data definitely showed that there had not been any violation of the Turkish air space,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a tweet.
After an emergency meeting of NATO ministers in Brussels at Turkey’s request, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg backed the Turkish version of events, but called for calm and said the alliance discussed ways of reducing the risk of such incidents in the future. Turkey is a member of the alliance and any potential conflict with Russia could draw in the United States and European countries.
“Diplomacy and de-escalation are important to resolve this situation,” Stoltenberg told reporters.
The incident could have been a nightmare-come-true for U.S. officials, who have worried about the possibility of wider conflict since Russia entered the war in Syria at the end of September to support embattled President Bashar Assad. Russian jets have previously violated the border, and in October, Turkish officials said their forces shot down a Russian drone that strayed across.
At the White House, President Obama and visiting French President Francois Hollande echoed Stoltenberg’s call for calm over the incident, with Obama noting that “some of those conflicts or potential for mistakes are less likely to occur” if Moscow would focus its efforts on fighting the Islamic State rather than supporting Assad.
Though U.S. F-15C fighters are flying from Turkish bases to help Ankara protect its airspace, Pentagon officials confirmed that no U.S. forces were involved in the incident. Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for the military command of the anti-Islamic State coalition, said officials were still analyzing data to confirm on which side of the border it took place.
“There were no U.S. personnel in the vicinity of this incident, so we did not observe it,” Warren told reporters via video teleconference on Tuesday. “We’re still gathering all the facts and looking at all the details.”
Russian and U.S. defense officials have worked out an agreement designed to prevent similar incidents over Syria, where both countries are conducting bombing missions, but the agreement does not extend into Turkey.
