President Putin: By Shooting Down Our Fighter Jet Turkey Practically Declared War on Russia, Turkish Dictator Erdoğan Is an Accomplice in ISIS Crimes

According to Moscow Times, the Russian President Vladimir Putin held an emergency cabinet meeting in Kremlin to evaluate the implications of the downing of a Russian Su-24 fighter jet near the Syrian-Turkish border area.

“…Today they practically declared war on us by shooting down our fighter jet. Our patience wears thin with Erdoğan and his criminal clique who is accomplice in all atrocities committed by ISIS terrorist. To avoid a bitter war which nobody craves, for several times, I told Americans to muzzle their rabid dog in Turkey,” Russian News Agency TASS cited the Russian President as saying.

 “I was informed that Turks have shot down a Russian aircraft on the border with Syria and reportedly the navigator has been killed; my deepest condolences to his family and the Great Russian nation,” said Mr. Putin vowing that the ‘revenge’ is what the Turkish dictator will receive in return.

We are indeed on the verge of an all-out war with the godfather of all terrorists in one of the extremely volatile areas in the world, added Mr. Putin, we worked diligently to solve the Syrian crisis through diplomatic means, but much to the international community’s chagrin, the Turkish AK Parti-led regime under Erdoğan seeks to ignite the fires of war.

Russia’s defence ministry, in a series of tweets, confirmed a Russian Su-24 had been shot down, but insisted the plane had never left Syrian airspace and claimed that fire from the ground was responsible. “At all times, the Su-24 was exclusively over the territory of Syria,” the defence ministry said.

“The Su-24 was at 6,000 metres and preliminary information suggests it was brought down by fire from the ground. The circumstances are being investigated.”

Tensions between Turkey and Russia have risen over Moscow’s bombing campaign against Islamist rebels close to the Turkish border. Turkey has repeatedly expressed concern over the attacks on the Islamic State positions.
Russian news agencies reported the statement Tuesday by general staff spokesman Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi, who also said that rebels in Syria fired on a Russian helicopter that was searching for the two pilots of the Su-24.

He said that shooting killed one crew member on the Mi-8 helicopter and forced it to land in neutral territory. The rest of the crew was evacuated.Rudskoi also said that Russian radar data showed that Turkish warplanes had violated Syrian airspace in the course of shooting down the Russian plane.