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29Nov15

Turkey to give body of Russia's Sukhoi Su-24M bomber pilot to Russian diplomats on Sunday

Turkey will give to Russian diplomats on Sunday the body of Russia's Sukhoi Su-24M bomber pilot, Igor Mityakov, press attache of the Russian embassy told TASS on Sunday.

"We have been confirmed today from the Hatay province to Ankara they will deliver the body of Hero of Russia Oleg Peshkov," he said. "The embassy's military attache will be on the flight next to the body. At the aerodrome in Ankara, Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov and the embassy's representatives will meet the plane. The date and time of the body's delivery to Russia are being discussed now."

Earlier on Sunday, Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters they had taken the body of the Russian pilot and will give it to Russian diplomats. He said at night Orthodox priests had made necessary devotions.

An F-16 fighter jet from the Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian Su-24M bomber on Tuesday. Ankara claims the Su-24M bomber violated the Turkish air space in the area of the border with Syria.

However, Russia's Defence Ministry has said the Su-24M plane stayed exclusively over the Syrian territory and "there was no violation of the Turkish air space."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that the attack on the bomber will have "serious consequences" for the Russian-Turkish relations. According to Putin, the Turkish Air Force's attack on the Russian combat plane that took part in the operation against terrorists in Syria and posed no threat to Turkey is a "stab in the back of Russia."

The crew of the Su-24M bomber managed to eject but one of the pilots was killed by gunfire from the ground. The second pilot was rescued and taken to the Russian air base.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said, speaking at the ceremony of the presentation of credentials by new foreign ambassadors on Thursday that Turkey was steering the relations into the gridlock as it neither apologised, nor offered to repair the damage, nor promised to punish those responsible,

"We have not heard yet apologies from the highest political level of Turkey. Nor do we hear proposals to repair the damage or promises to punish the perpetrators for the committed crime," Putin said. "One gets the impression that the Turkish leadership is steering deliberately the Russian-Turkish relations into the dead end, which is regrettable," he added.

In an interview with CNN, Erdogan warned Moscow that Turkey would take steps if its warplane were downed by the Russian S-400 missile system in case it violated the Syrian airspace. "I think if there is a party that needs to apologize, it is not us," he said. "Those who violated our airspace are the ones who need to apologize.".

[Source: Sputnik News, Moscow, 29Nov15]
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