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Turkey recovered the body of a Russian pilot from northern Syria and presented it to Russian diplomats yesterday, five days after shooting down his warplane in an incident that wrecked relations between two of the main powers involved in Syria’s war. A coffin carrying Oleg Peshkov arrived by ambulance on the tarmac of Hatay Airport in southern Turkey near the Syrian border, a Reuters photographer said. It was flown to the capital Ankara, where according to Russia’s RIA news agency it was met at an airfield by Moscow’s ambassador and military attache. The Russian embassy declined to comment.
The shooting down of the Russian fighter jet by Nato-member Turkey, the first known incident of its kind since the Cold War, has damaged efforts to forge a united front against Islamic State in the weeks since militants claimed responsibility for mass killings in Paris and blowing up a Russian airliner.
Moscow has responded towards Ankara with fury, calling the episode a pre-planned provocation. President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Saturday imposing punitive economic sanctions against Turkey.
Details of Turkish goods that will be banned and other measures under the decree are expected to be announced in coming days. Turkey says Peshkov’s plane was in its air space and had ignored repeated warnings when it was shot down. Russia says it was flying over Syria and was struck unprovoked.
The navigator of the two-seat jet survived but another Russian service member was killed rescuing him from northern Syria. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutgolu said yesterday that Peshkov’s body had arrived in Turkey overnight, but gave no further details of how it was recovered or brought across the border.
Turkey is part of a coalition of countries led by the United States that have been bombing Islamic State positions in both Syria and Iraq, while also calling for Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to step down. — Reuters
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