RUSSIA ‘reserves the right to respond’ after Israel’s actions led to the downing of a military plane in Latakia in Syria, resulting in the deaths of 15 crew. Russian Defence Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov warned yesterday: ‘We consider these provocative actions by Israel as hostile. Fifteen Russian military service members have died because of the irresponsible actions of the Israeli military.
‘This is absolutely contrary to the spirit of the Russian-Israeli partnership.
‘We reserve the right to an adequate response.’ He pointed out that the Israeli aviation control systems and pilots knew that the Russian plane was present in the area, but this did not stop them from executing ‘the provocation.’ The Israeli forces only gave the Russian military one minute’s notice.
Konashenkov said: ‘On September 17 at around 10pm four Israeli fighter jets launched guided bombs on Syrian military facilities near the city of Latakia. The bombing occurred in the immediate vicinity of where the Russian Il-20 was coming in to land. ‘The Israeli jets deliberately created a dangerous situation. ‘The Israeli pilots used the Russian plane as cover and set it up to be targeted by the Syrian air defence forces. ‘As a result, the Russian Il-20 was brought down by a Syrian air defence missile. ‘There is no way that the Israeli pilots could not have seen the Russian plane.’
Russian President Putin was far more tolerant of the Israeli action than the military.
While speaking at a joint press conference with the Hungarian President following talks yesterday, Putin said: ‘It looks like a chain of tragic events led up to that tragedy.
‘Israeli planes did not shoot down our plane. Though, certainly we should get to the bottom of things.’
Later, the Russian military said that they have identified the crash site stating: ‘Taking part in the search for the crew of the Russian Ilyushin-20 plane, which crashed off Latakia, are eight ships and boats from Russia’s Navy. By now, the aircraft’s crash site in the Mediterranean has been identified. It’s 27 kilometres west of Baniyas, in the Latakia province.’
Russian ships have picked up body fragments, personal belongings and the plane’s debris. Israeli officials earlier acknowledged they’d conducted hundreds of airstrikes in Syria over the past years, which are illegal under all international law as they do not have permission from the Syrian government to enter the sovereign country’s air space. From their initial statements Russia’s military leaders may well not be as forgiving of the Israeli action as was President Putin.
