BRUSSELS // Nato’s secretary-general has rejected Moscow’s claim that its military incursion into alliance airspace over Turkey was not intentional or important.
Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday the recent breaches of Turkish airspace by Russian warplanes were “very serious” – even dangerous.
“It doesn’t look like an accident, and we’ve seen two of them over the weekend,” he said.
Turkey’s military, meanwhile, said more of its jets patrolling the border with Syria were placed in a radar lock by Russian planes and surface-to-air missile systems.
In Syria, Russian warplanes reportedly continued pounding targets in the country, where the Kremlin has come to the aid of beleaguered ally president Bashar Al Assad.
Russia’s defence ministry dismissed as “absolute lies” claims that its jets had bombed the Syrian city of Palmyra after Syrian state TV reported the strikes. It said Moscow’s air force flew around 20 sorties in Syria on Tuesday, striking 12 ISIL targets.
The latest Russian airstrikes in Syria, in cooperation with Syrian jets, struck targets in rural areas of the northern Aleppo province, targeting the ISIL-controlled towns of Al Bab and Deir Hafer, Syrian state TV reported, quoting a military official.
The official also said ISIL bases were targeted in Palmyra and surrounding areas in the central Homs province, destroying 20 vehicles, three arms depots and three rocket launchers.
However, Russia’s ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov denied striking the Unesco world heritage site, saying: “All reports by foreign media that Russian planes have allegedly conducted air strikes against the city of Palmyra are absolute lies.”
“Our aviation in Syria does not attack residential areas nor – especially not – the architectural monuments there,” he said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Russia carried out at least 34 air strikes in Palmyra and its vicinity, killing 15 ISIL militants.
Air strikes also were reported in the city of Raqqa, the group’s de facto capital. The Observatory said at least 19 ISIL members were killed, and two vehicles and an arms depot hit.
Mr Stoltenberg later confirmed that Nato generals would be contacting their Russian counterparts about the violation of Turkish airspace.
“It’s unacceptable to violate the airspace of another country,” he said, adding that Nato is worried that such acts by the Russians could have unforeseen consequences.
Turkey’s military said on Tuesday that eight Turkish F-16 jet patrolling the Turkish-Syrian border were harassed by a MIG-29 plane as well as surface-to-air missile systems based in Syria in two separate incidents on Monday.
It was the second successive harassment of Turkish planes reported by Turkey. The MIG-29 locked radar on the planes for 4 minutes and 30 seconds, while the missile systems threatened the planes for 4 minutes and 15 seconds, the military said. Turkey reported Monday that two Turkish jets were harassed by a MIG-29 on Sunday.
During an official visit to Belgium, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed Nato’s stance, and pointedly warned the Russians that if such actions continue, relations between the two neighbouring countries on the Black Sea could go into a deep freeze.
“Any attack on Turkey is an attack on Nato,” Mr Erdogan said. “If Russia loses a friend like Turkey with whom it has cooperated on many issues, it will lose a lot.”
A Turkish government official confirmed that Russian Ambassador Andrey Karlov had been called to the ministry on Monday afternoon during which Turkish officials lodged a “strong protest” over the second infringement.
* Associated Press and Agence France-Presse