Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, left, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, right, at the re-opening of the Cathedral Mosque in Moscow on Wednesday, September 24, 2015. (Photo: AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin made good on his promise that there would be “significant consequences” for Turkey shooting down a Russian Su-24 fighter jet last week, hitting the NATO-member nation with billions in new sanctions. The decree signed by Putin sanctions imports from Turkey, the work of Turkish companies in Russia and any Turkish nationals working for Russian companies.
Dmitry Peskov, a Putin spokesman, said on Saturday that there were close to 90,000 Turkish nationals working in Russia. When factoring in family members, Russian officials tout how that figure rises to 200,000.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned Putin not to “play with fire” on Friday, though his paper tiger warning fell on deaf ears. On Saturday, he said he was “saddened” by the downing of the jet and, on Sunday, even promised to ensure the dead Russian pilot would be returned to Moscow.
“I would like to meet [Putin] face-to-face in Paris,” Erdoğan said on Friday. “I would like to bring the issue to a reasonable point. We are disturbed that the issue has been escalated.”
It was apparently too late for Erdoğan, who refused to apologize for the downing, as the NATO-member nation claimed it gave repeated warnings.
However, a senior U.S. defense official told PPD Friday that the Russian fighter jet “did not appear to be” in Turkish airspace when it was shot down on Tuesday. U.S. officials confirmed early Tuesday that a Turkish F-16 fighter jet shot down the Russian pilots with an air-to-air missile near the border between Turkey and Syria.
