Dubai: Turkey’s allegations that a Russian warplane violated its airspace are not backed by any factual data and are a premeditated provocation, Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Monday.
“The hysteria launched by the Turkish side that we define as ‘unsubstantiated propaganda’ looks pretty much like a premeditated provocation,” the ministry’s spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, said in a statement.
Russia’s military is in possession of a video, provided by Syria’s general staff of the armed forces and a Syrian opposition group, which shows “a Turkish artillery battery shelling a Syrian frontier village”, the statement said.
It said Russia’s Defence Ministry was awaiting a prompt explanation from Nato, the Pentagon and the Turkish armed forces on the shelling incident.
A Russian trucking union and lobby group meanwhile said that the country’s long-haul trucks will no longer be allowed into Turkey.
The Association of International Truckers said on Monday that Turkey refused to renew an agreement allowing Russian truckers to bring goods into Turkey.
Relations between Turkey and Russia have been fraught since a Turkish fighter jet shot down a Russian bomber for allegedly violating Turkish airspace on November 24.
In retaliation, Russia introduced a slew of economic sanctions against Turkey. Ankara has not officially levied sanctions against Russia.
A Turkish government official confirmed the agreement allowing Russian trucks to enter the country had expired but could not immediately confirm that Turkey was refusing to renew it. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules.
Trade between the countries was worth $31 billion (Dh113.84 billion) in 2014.
Turkey’s allegation that Russia once again violated its airspace has reignited concerns of a military confrontation between the two, unsettling investors and further straining frayed ties.
The Turkish military has given pilots permission to shoot without awaiting orders if they register an incursion, local media reported. Russia has denied the latest charge, and President Vladimir Putin hasn’t decided whether to take a requested call from Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.
Russian sanctions on Turkey following the November confrontation have already hurt exports and tourism.
“Geopolitical risk seems to be coming back to the agenda,” Erkin Isik, a strategist at Turk Ekonomi Bankasi in Istanbul, wrote in a report.
The two powers are on opposing sides in Syria’s civil war, with Moscow backing President Bashar Al Assad against an array of rebels and radical militants seeking his ouster. Turkey says Russian airstrikes in Syria focus on rebel forces supported by Ankara, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations.
“Russia can’t cover up the airspace violation,” Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said at a news conference in Saudi Arabia on Sunday. While Turkey isn’t seeking to escalate tensions with Russia, it may not tolerate further breaches, he said.
— With inputs from Bloomberg and agencies
