After Turkish military downed Russian fighter-bomber Su-24 on Tuesday, the probability of new incidents is high, and Russia will have to react if such incidents occur, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his visit to the Ural city of Nizhny Tagil on Wednesday.
“After what happened yesterday we can't rule out [the possibility of] new incidents, and, if such incidents occur, we will have to react in one way or another,” Putin was cited by the Interfax news agency as saying to reporters.
On Tuesday, a Russian Su-24 fighter-bomber was downed by an air-to-air missile from a Turkish F-16 interceptor near the Turkish-Syrian border. Turkey said the jet had violated its airspace while Russia insisted that the plane was on the Syrian territory.
While one of the Su-24 pilots was killed, another was rescued and transferred to the Russian Hmeymim military base in the Syrian province of Latakia, Russian media reported on Wednesday, citing officials from the Defense Ministry.