The surviving navigator of a Russian bomber plane shot down by a Turkey fighter jet on Tuesday insists that the plane did not cross from Syrian to Turkish airspace and claims that no prior warning was given before shots were fired.
Captain Konstantin Murakhtin told Russian media that it is "impossible that we violated their airspace even for a second" while conducting bombing runs on the Islamic State group in Syria, reported RT. "We were flying at an altitude of 6,000 meters in completely clear weather, and I had total control of our flight path throughout."
Both pilots ejected before the plane crashed in Syria, and Captain Sergey Rumyantsev was reportedly shot and killed by a rebel Turkmen group while still parachuting. Russian special forces rescued Murakhtin in a 12-hour operation in which one Russian Marine died, but Rumyantsev's body could not be found and is thought to be in possession of Syrian rebels.
Turkey says that it issued at least 10 warnings to the Russian pilots before shooting the plane down. The Turkish military on Wednesday released what it says is an audio recording of one of those warnings, reported The Guardian.
"This is Turkish air force speaking - en garde. You are approaching Turkish airspace," the recording warns, according to The Independent. A voice speaking in English can be heard saying "change your heading south immediately."
Turkey said that the warning was repeated every 30 seconds for five minutes but was ignored by the pilots of the Russian Su-24 bomber.
But Murakhtin, a 39-year-old who won the Top Navigator award at Russia's largest military flying competition last year, said he knows the area "like the back of my hand" and refuted Turkish claims that the pilots were repeatedly warned.
"In actual fact, there were no warnings at all. Neither through the radio, nor visually, so we did not at any point adjust our course. You need to understand the difference in speed between a tactical bomber like a Su-24, and that of the F16. If they wanted to warn us, they could have sat on our wing," Murakhtin said.
"As it was, the missile hit the back of our plane out of nowhere. We didn't even have time to make an evasive maneuver."
Since the shooting, tensions have escalated between Russia and Turkey, whose claims of self defense are supported by the U.S. Russia has moved its S-400 anti-aircraft missile system to the Turkish border to ward off future attacks, according to The Daily Mail.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also accused Turkey of deliberate provocation and said Moscow would need to "seriously reassess" relations with Turkey. He added, however, that Russia does not intend to go to war over the incident, reported The Telegraph.
