Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the loss of the jet fighter “is a stab in the back, carried out by the accomplices of terrorists” and he warned of “significant consequences”.

Mr. Putin stated the jet was downed 4km inside Syria claiming the pilots were not a threat. He stressed that neither the pilots nor the jet threatened the territory of Turkey adding that they were fighting terrorists in the northern areas around Latakia.

“This incident is a stab in the back,” Mr. Putin said. “I can’t describe it in any other way,”.

The Russian President referred indirectly to the relations of Turkey with ISIS militants by saying that “Isis has such huge resources of hundreds of millions and billions of dollars coming from illegal oil sales, and they are protected by the armed forces of other states, then it’s clear why they are so brazen, why they are killing people, why they are carrying out terrorist attacks throughout the world including in the heart of Europe”.

He continued saying that incident would have significant consequences, including for Russia-Turkish relations adding that Russia always treated Turkey as a friendly state and not just as a neighbor.

“I don’t know who was interested in what happened today, but certainly it wasn’t us,”

Mr. Putin also critised Turkey’s move to to turn to NATO saying that “Instead of immediately getting in contact with us, as far as we know, the Turkish side immediately turned to their partners from NATO to discuss this event, as if we shot down their plane and not they our”.