Turkey cites airspace breach as reason for shooting down Russian warplane; Putin retaliates

Two F-16s shot down a Russian warplane after it allegedly flew into Turkish airspace. According to Turkey's military, the Russian Su-24 attack aircraft failed to answer the former's warning, thus the decision to take it down. Russian Vladimir Putin expressed his anger on the matter, warning Turkey of serious consequences.

Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti (via CNN) reported that one of the two pilots died from air by fire. The condition of the second pilot remains unknown. Russia's defence ministry argued that the plane was only flying within the Syrian airspace contrary to what Turkey claimed. Nonetheless, a U.S. defence official -- not authorised to speak publicly on the matter -- told USA Today that the Russian war plane entered Turkish airspace briefly, prompting the incident.

Turkish military claimed they sent several warnings for one minute before the Turkish F-16 warplane fired on the Russian jet. Turkey has warned Russia not to enter or breach their airspace repeatedly. A similar incident happened last month when a small Russian drone crossed the border. Turkish military shot it down as well.

"[Shooting of the plane] represents a stab in the back by the terrorists' accomplices. I can't describe what has happened today in any other way. Our plane was downed over Syrian territory by an air-to-air missile from a Turkish F-16 jet," CNN quoted Putin.

"The plane fell on Syrian territory 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) away from the Turkish border. It was flying 1 kilometre away from the Turkish border when it was attacked. In any case, neither our pilots nor our jet posed any threat to Turkey. That is obvious. They were carrying out an operation fighting against ISIL in Northern Latakia," the president added.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the organisation agrees with Turkey's decision. He added that they stand in solidarity with Turkey and expressed support for territorial integrity. Russia's plane went down near the Bayirbucak region of northwestern Syria. U.S. President Barack Obama said that Turkey’s call is also legitimate provided the airspace claims.

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