Lavrov: Did US Approve Turkey’s Action Beforehand?
Secretary of State John Kerry offered US condolences to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a phone call, today, according to a statement posted by the State Department. Prior to the phone call, Lavrov told reporters in Moscow that Russia knows the US always demands from its coalition members in Syria to coordinate use of US combat planes. Thus, reports Tass, he pointed to the possibility of the Turkish authorities discussing with the United States their decision to order its warplanes in the air to shoot down the Russian plane.
Lavrov said:
It remains to be seen whether the US requirement is applicable to Turkey, and if it is, I would like to know if Turkey had asked the United States for permission to send its planes on a combat mission and to shoot down a plane, albeit probably an identified one, over Syrian territory.”
Lavrov reminded Kerry that, under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding for deconfliction, the United States took direct responsibility for the actions of all the so-called Coalition partners, and that includes Turkey. Also, Lavrov noted that, independent of the MOU, Turkey and Russia established a hot line phone, but there was no effort by any Turkish official to use that hot line to avert the shoot-down.
Lavrov also spoke to his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Cavusoglu, earlier in the day. Lavrov said that Russia has no plans to go to war against Turkey, but neither will the planned diplomatic visits of Russians to Turkey or vice versa go ahead. Lavrov said that his Turkish counterpart expressed regret over the Sukhoi-24M incident, but at the same time tried to present excuses for the action taken by the Turkish Air Force.
Lavrov said:
Lavrov also noted that the attack on Russia’s Su-24M plane looks like a planned provocation. “We have serious doubts that it was unintentional; it looks like a planned provocation,”
Lavrov said, adding that some Russian partners call the downing incident “an obvious ambush.”
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