Putin: Turkey shooting down Russian jet near Syria a 'stab in the back'

Baku. 24 November. REPORT.AZ/ Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Turkey shooting down a Russian fighter jet on Tuesday is a "stab in the back", Report informs Russian RIA Novosti reported.

Turkey’s state-run press agency Anadolu said the plane violated the country's airspace and warned 10 times in five minutes before it was shot down by two F-16 jets, citing presidential sources.

However Russia believed the plane never entered Turkish airspace.

Putin, speaking to media during talks with the King of Jordan, gave the first confirmation from Russia that the plane was hit by Turkish jets, and warned that the incident will have grave consequences for Russia’s relations with Turkey.

He said the plane was flying 1km away from the Turkish border and was focussed on key terrorist targets in the Latakia province of Syria, according to RT.

The Russian leader said the plane posed no threat to Turkish national security, and alleged Turkey has acted as accomplices of terrorists by shooting down the plane.

Putin also said the pilots noticed the flow of oil from Syrian territory under the control of terrorists to Turkey, and RT said he claimed that ISIS has the protection of a nation’s military.

NATO confirmed in a statement that it will hold an extraordinary meeting at 5pm Brussels time (4pm UK time) at the request of Turkey to inform allies about the incident.

The statement said NATO is monitoring the situation closely and is in close contact with Turkish authorities.

Anadolu also released an image of the jet's flight path before it went down in Syria's northwestern Turkmen town of Bayirbucak, near Turkey’s border.