Putin: Chain of Tragic Accidents Led to Downing of Aircraft

The Associated Press
The Associated Press

The Times of Israel reports: MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed Tuesday that Israel did not shoot down a Russian military reconnaisance plane with 15 people on board, saying the downing of the plane by Syrian air defenses was a “chain of tragic accidental circumstances.”

“It rather looks like a chain of tragic accidental circumstances,” Putin told reporters, rejecting any comparisons with the downing of a Russian jet by Turkey in 2015. “An Israeli jet did not shoot down our plane,” Putin said.

The Russian defense ministry earlier Tuesday had blamed Israel for the incident and warned of reprisals. Putin said he had signed off on the defense ministry statement. “No doubt we should seriously look into this,” Putin said, speaking at a news conference after talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Read more here.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.