Russian Air Forces Commander: Turkish Behavior Shows the Shootdown was a Deliberate Act

PRESS RELEASE

Russian Air Forces Commander: Turkish Behavior Shows the Shootdown Was a Deliberate Act

Nov. 27, 2015 (EIRNS)—The Russian Defense Ministry today released a timeline of events leading to the shooting down of a Russian Su-24 bomber by a Turkish F-16 on Nov. 24. According to Russian Aerospace Forces Commander Col. Gen. Viktor Bondarev, Turkish behavior both before and after the incident shows that the shoot- down was a deliberate act.

According to the timeline and maps published by the Defense Ministry, the Su-24 was hit at 10:24 A.M. when it was striking a target on the ground 5.5 km south of the border. The Turkish F-16 fired its missiles from a range of 5-7 kilometers from the Su-24. Two Turkish F-16’s had been in their patrol area just north of the border beginning at 9:08 A.M., but departed from the area within minutes of the shoot-down in a manner that suggests that they were avoiding being tracked. The Russian bomber, Bondarev said, did not cross the border into Turkey at any time, while the F-16, on the other hand, crossed into Syria to fire its missiles. The behavior of the two Turkish F-16’s Bondarev indicated, shows that their actions "were planned beforehand."

Bondarev also noted that video footage of the Su-24 falling from the sky appeared very quickly on Internet social media sites, within an hour-and-a-half of the aircraft crashing. This showed "that the terrorists had been informed in advance about the prepared provocation."