Turkey is sending back the dead body of Lt. Colonel Oleg Peshkov to Moscow after he had been shot while parachuting from the Ru-24 jet plane that Turkey downed. Turkish forces shot down the pilot’s plane after they said he had violated Turkish airspace for 17 seconds. Russia denies this and the incident has sparked a row between both countries.

Rebels who shot the pilot say he had died by the time he reached the ground. His body was flown from the border to the Turkish capital on Saturday afternoon.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglou said that the pilot’s body had been treated in accordance with the Orthodox Christian faith.

Captain Konstantin Murakhtin, another pilot in the plane, managed to survive and was rescued.