CRI听力:No Turkish Warning Before Bomber Jet Crash: Russian Airman

Russia's Defense Ministry says preliminary data showed that the plane's pilot and a soldier sent to rescue the crew have died. However, Russian Air Force Navigator Konstantin Murakhtin survived the crash after he auto-ejected from the plane. Moscow says he was then rescued by Russian and Syrian Special Forces.

Murakhtin said in an interview on Wednesday that he was familiar with the terrain he was flying over, and denied it was violating Turkish airspace when it was shot down.

"All our flight before the missile blew up was under my total control. I perfectly saw where we were and where was the Turkish border, both on the map and on the ground. There was no threat of violating the Turkish border."
Turkey had previously claimed that the Russian jet was warned ten times before it was shot down. But Navigator Murakhtin denied that statement.

"In actual fact, there were no warnings at all, neither by radio, nor visually. There were no contacts whatsoever. That is why we were taking a military route in normal mode. You need to understand what the speed of a bomber is and the speed of an F-16 is. If they wanted to warn us, they could have shown themselves by taking a parallel course, but there was nothing."

Turkey on Wednesday released what it said was an audio recording of a warning it sent to the plane. Most of the over-a-minute recording was unintelligible, but one voice could be heard as saying "change your heading."
The incident has created a political fallout between Russia and Turkey. A Russian military general staff official Sergei Rudskoi said that Russia will continue its operations in Syria and is suspending military relations with Turkey.

The official also confirmed that Russia is to deploy its Fort air defence system to Latakia in Syria.

Meanwhile, Turkey is seeking to reduce tensions with Russia. The Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the Turkish military was not aware that it was shooting down a Russian plane at the time.

"The fact that the plane belongs to the Russian Federation was learned after the announcements of the Russian authorities. I would like to stress that the plane was fired at while it was violating Turkish air space."

The Prime Minister added his country had no intention to create conflicts with Russia, calling Russia Turkey's "friend and neighbor."

The incident has prompted calls in the international community for Russia and Turkey to resolve the issue through peaceful negotiations and prevent further escalations.

For CRI, I'm Victor Ning.