Russian President Vladimir Putin said after talks with his French counterpart Francois Hollande that if some countries try to toy with terrorists, these efforts will turn out pretty badly for such countries.
"Those who use double standards with terrorists, those who use terrorists to achieve their political goals, they run criminal business with them and play with fire. History shows that such actions will sooner or later turn out badly to accomplices of terrorism," Putin said.
According to Putin, Russia was not expecting an attack from Turkey as Russia thought that Turkey was a friendly state.
"It did not even occur to us that we could be struck by the country that we considered our ally," the Russian president said.
He stressed out that the Russian aircraft in Syria were vulnerable to attacks from fighter jets. "If we could only assume that it would possible, the Russian Federation would have deployed S-400 air defense systems long ago and used other means to protect its warplanes," Putin said.
Vladimir Putin also said that after the death of Russian servicemen, Russia will ensure the safety of its aircraft. "If necessary, we will use fighter jets to accompany the activities of our aircraft, or take other measures, including methods of electronic warfare," he stressed.
Russia will also hold serious consultations with the United States about how the information about the Russian aircraft in Syria was used, the president added.
According to Ankara, the Turkish side had learned that the downed aircraft was a Russian warplane only after Russia declared so.
Pravda.Ru has reported before that the rescued Russian pilot explained that the plane was flying above the Syrian territory and could not make a mistake even for a second. The pilot also said that the Turkish side had not warned the Russian pilots of the impending missile attack from behind.
Vladimir Putin also cast doubts on Erdogan's unawareness of illegal shipments of oil to Turkey from Syrian terrorists. According to Putin, it goes about "commercial scale" of illegal oil supplies that Russia can see from the air "day and night".
Putin reminded that at the G20 summit, he showed photographs taken by Russian pilots from an altitude of 5,000 meters to prove that. The photos show vehicles that transport oil. "It looks like a living oil pipe," Putin said describing the pictures.
"It goes about industrial scale of oil supplies from terrorist-seized Syrian territories... And we see from the air, where those vehicles are traveling - they are going to Turkey. I suppose that the Turkish administration knows nothing about it. It is hard to believe, but it is technically possible," Putin said.
In his deep conviction, the Turkish authorities must not let such illegal trade happen. "In this respect, there is a special UN Security Council resolution that bans the purchase of oil from terrorists, because these barrels that they are transporting contain not just oil - they contain the blood of our citizens, because with that money terrorists buy weapons, ammunition and then arrange bloody actions over the Sinai, in Paris and in other cities and countries around the world," Putin said.
"If the top political leadership of Turkey does not know anything about it, then let them know. We're going to continue, and we do not want to stop, and we will strike those convoys of trucks and oil refineries, or bases where crude oil is processed, because this is obviously the main source of financial income for the Islamic State," Russian President Putin said.
The Russian Defense Ministry commented on the alleged destruction of a humanitarian convoy from Turkey en route to the Syrian province of Aleppo.
On November 26, Turkish media reported with reference to the so-called moderate opposition that the supposedly humanitarian convoy was bombed even though the convoy was delivering humanitarian cargo to refugees.
General Igor Konashenkov, an official spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, said the Russian Air Force did not attack the convoy.
"Next time, we recommended a burning convoy of trucks carrying ammunition for terrorists operating north of Aleppo, should not be give out for "humanitarian aid," the official said.
According to the BBC, the Russian Defense Ministry also rejected reports from the Turkish media that posted photos of the attack on the convoy.
Igor Konashenkov noted that there were no traces of ammo impact on the trucks that, as the Russian Defense Ministry believes, were carrying arms for terrorists.
To crown it all, reports from Syrian rebels and the Turkish press discredit the fact that Ankara did not warn about the humanitarian convoy. The convoy to Syria did not have identification marks on vehicles either.
Pravda.Ru