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Putin plans anti-aircraft missiles in Syria

Amirul Islam || risingbd.com

Published: 15:21, 25 November 2015   Update: 15:18, 26 July 2020
Putin plans anti-aircraft missiles in Syria

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Risingbd Desk: In a fast-moving swoop, Vladimir Putin on Wednesday announced plans to move anti-aircraft missiles to Syria, the latest in a series of tense Mideast incidents that began with the Turkish downing of a Russia jet and then moved to a dramatic commando-style rescue of one of the craft’s pilots.


And now Britain’s jumped in the fray, vowing to defend Turkey in case of any escalation, and announcing the alerting of its military to standby mode, the Daily Mail reported.


Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on his Twitter feed the nation was ordering S-400 defense missile systems to its airbase by Latakia, Syria, on the Mediterranean coast, CNN reported. The missiles can reach distances of 155 miles, well within striking range of Turkey, located about 30 miles away.


World leaders are scrambling to ease tensions, yet protect their interests and allies.


Turkey has condemned the move, while Britain has placed its military back-up in standby mode in case Putin initiated any retaliatory attacks, the Daily Mail said.


Putin had vowed just hours earlier of “serious consequences” to come for Turkey’s downing of its SU–24 in what Russian officials insisted was Syrian airspace.


Turkey, however, said Russia clearly violated its airspace boundaries and that officials sent several warnings before firing.


Video captured the plane plummeting into a densely wooded area, while the pilots ejected and parachuted, amid heavy ground fire.


Russia’s ambassador to France, Alexander Orlov, said on Europe-1 radio that one of the pilots was killed and his body remains in the hands of the Syrian army.


“[The other] managed to escape and be rescued by the Syrian army,” he said, the Associated Press reported.


Orlov also accused Turkey of serving as an “accomplice” to ISIS terrorists.


Shoigu, meanwhile, described the rescue of one of Russia’s pilots as a dramatic, 12–hour operation that involved members of Syria’s army commando unit. He said the pilot is now “safe and sound” at Russia’s air base in Syria in the Latakia province, the Associated Press reported.


With the world on edge – and some pundits and politics, like former congressman Allen West, warning of a looming new world war, as WND previously reported – Russia dug in Wednesday to claim it only wanted peace.


"We have no intention to go to war with Turkey,” said Russian Foreign Secretary Sergei Lavrov, in a press conference reported by the Daily Mail. “Our attitude to the Turkish people hasn’t changed. We only have questions about the leadership."


At the same time, Lavrov said: "We have serious doubts about this being an unpremeditated act. It really looks like a planned provocation."


Source: Agencies


risingbd/DHAKA/Nov 25, 2015/Amirul

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