Turkey shoots down Russian fighter jet

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The Turkish military says it shot down a Russian fighter jet on Tuesday morning after it violated its airspace along the border with Syria, further escalating tensions between international powers with competing aims in the war-torn country.

Russia’s defence ministry confirmed that one of its jets had been shot down, but insisted it had not strayed into Turkish airspace.

“Today on the territory of Syria, presumably as a result of fire from the ground, a Russian Su-24 plane crashed in the Syrian Arabic Republic,” the Russian defence ministry said in a statement quoted by local news wires.

“The plane was at an altitude of 6,000 metres. The fate of the pilots is being confirmed. According to preliminary data, the pilots managed to eject.”

It added that the plane was “exclusively over Syrian territory throughout its entire flight”. “This is recorded by objective controls.”

A Turkish military official said the Russian plane was given “repeated warnings” before action was taken to bring it down.

The incident threatens to dramatically complicate an already fractious situation in Syria, at a time when relations between Moscow and the West over the war-torn country’s future appeared to have a chance of aligning more closely.

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Diplomats have been scrambling to build a consensus with Russia over a political transition in Syria in the wake of terror attacks by Isis in Paris earlier this month and the downing of a Russian airliner in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula in late October.

The shooting down of the Russian jet will be the first clash between Nato and Russia’s military forces since the end of the Cold War, and is likely to provoke a bout of sabre-rattling from both sides. Turkey may call for an ‘Article 4’ consultation at the alliance, which could trigger Nato troop deployments to bolster Ankara’s security.

Turkey invoked the article after one of its own jets was downed by Syrian government forces in 2012.

“It’s a very serious incident and a very predictable one — it illustrates the dangers we are running not just in that region but in Europe and for Nato generally, where we’ve seen Russian planes buzzing warships, goading other jets and being provocative above the alliance’s airspace,” said Ian Kearns, director of the European Leadership Network, an independent grouping of senior current and former military officials and politicians.

France said on Tuesday that planes based on the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier had carried out their first air strikes against Isis in Syria. The ship was sent to the Eastern Mediterranean in response to the Paris terror attacks.

The downing of the Russian fighter jet rattled European markets. The Turkish lira dropped 0.9 per cent against the US dollar and the Istanbul equity market lost 1.6 per cent. Russian also stocks fell, having risen sharply the day before, while the rouble was flat.

Turkish media and local activists said the crash site was in Yamadi, on the Turkish-Syrian border, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group, put the crash site in the Jabal Turkman area of northern Latakia. Activists said one Russian pilot was captured in nearby Ateyra village.

“Flames were seen rising from the burning plane as it flew in the sky over Jabal Turkman in the northern Latakia countryside, near the Alexandretta region [of Turkey],” said the SOHR.

Two parachutes were seen in the air, according to local activists and images broadcast on Turkish television and on social media, but there was no immediate confirmation on the fate of the crew.

Earlier this morning, several parts of the northern Latakia countryside were being shelled by warplanes in conjunction with clashes between regime forces and loyalist militia on one side, and rebels and Islamist divisions on the other.

Syrian forces have been engaged in heavy combat against local Turkmen militia in that area for at least the past week, especially in the Bayirbucak area of north-west Syria, close to Turkey’s Yayladag border gate in Hatay province. Turkey summoned the Russian ambassador to complain about the bombing four days ago.

Turkey has repeatedly made clear it will not tolerate any violations of its airspace as the war in Syria has brought aircraft from both the Syrian regime and Russia close to its borders. In October, it shot down a drone after it crossed Turkish airspace.

The Turkish prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, has asked for a consultation with Nato on Tuesday, according to Reuters. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is due in Turkey this week for a previously scheduled visit.

Separately, the Russian ministry of defence said on Tuesday that a group of Russian journalists in Syria had come under fire near the village of Al-Dagmashliya on Monday. The ministry said that three journalists suffered “light injuries” and that the group had returned to the Russian air base.