Putin rules out reconciliation with Turkey
19 Dec 2015 5:10 AM IST
Russian President Vladimir Putin fired off an angry tirade against Turkey on Thursday, ruling out any reconciliation with its leaders and accusing Ankara of shooting down a Russian warplane to impress the United States.
In comments littered with crude language, Putin dismissed the possibility that the downing of the warplane over the Turkish-Syrian border last month was an accident, calling it a “hostile act”.
“We find it difficult if not impossible to come to an agreement with the current leadership of Turkey,” the Kremlin strongman said at his annual news conference.
“On the state level, I don’t see any prospects of improving relations with the Turkish leadership,” he said of Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Ties between Russia and NATO member Turkey have been severely strained since the November 24 incident, which led to deaths of two Russian military officers.
Turkey has said the Russian jet strayed into its airspace and ignored repeated warnings, but Moscow insists it never left Syrian territory.Putin said he did not rule out that Ankara was acting with tacit approval from Washington, possibly so that the United States would look the other way to let Turkey “go onto Iraqi territory and occupy part of it”.
“I don’t know if there was such a trade-off, maybe there was,” Putin said.
“If somebody in the Turkish leadership decided to lick the Americans in one place... I don’t know, if they did the right thing,” he added. “Did they think we would run away now? Russia is not that kind of country,” Putin said, speaking of Moscow’s increased military presence in Syria.
“If Turkey flew there all the time before, breaching Syrian airspace, well, let’s see how they fly now.”
Putin also accused Turkey’s leaders of overseeing a “creeping Islamisation” of the country “which would probably cause (modern Turkey’s founding father Mustafa Kemal) Ataturk to turn in his grave.” Putin and Erdogan have been locked in a war of words over the plane downing, and Moscow ha accused Erdogan’s family of engaging in oil smuggling operations in Syria.
On Thursday, Putin went as far as to say that the Islamic State group was a “secondary issue” in Syria as it was created as “cannon fodder under Islamist slogans” to protect economic interests of other players, although he did not name Turkey.
Putin said that had the downing of the plane been an accident, Turkish leaders should have tried to “pick up the phone and explain themselves”.
Erdogan attempted to call Putin on the day of the incident, but the Kremlin ignored his request to speak to the Russian leader.
‘Russia’s Syria operation will continue until talks’
Russia is ready to improve ties with the United States and work with whomever is elected its next president, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. He said his talks with US Secretary John Kerry earlier this week showed that Washington is ready to “move toward settling the issues that can only be settled through joint efforts.”
Addressing Russia’s strained relations with some of its neighbors at his annual news conference, attended by hundreds of Russian and foreign journalists, Putin said he saw no possibility of overcoming the tensions with Turkey under its current leadership, and wanted to see the conflict in Ukraine settled as soon as possible. The Russian military operation in Syria will continue until a political process starts, but it is up to the Syrians to decide when to stop fighting and sit down for talks, Putin added. “We aren’t going to be more Syrian than the Syrians themselves,” he said during his annual televised news conference with hundreds of Russian and foreign journalists. He also offered assurances that the Russian economy was showing signs of stabilization despite plummeting oil prices, in fielding an array of questions from journalists representing state-owned media organizations about whether the government was coping with the challenges and whether the country could afford waging a war. Russian warplanes have flown thousands of combat sorties in Syria since Moscow began its air campaign on Sept. 30. Putin said it will continue until work begins on a political settlement. The president said he was unsure whether Russia needs a permanent military base in Syria, given that new Russian weapons, such as sea- and air-launched cruise missiles, give Moscow enough punch to strike an enemy.
Russia backs US draft resolution on cutting ISis finances: Putin
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia supported a US-backed draft resolution aimed at ramping up sanctions against the Islamic State group and cutting off its revenue flows.
“We support an initiative by the United States including on the preparation of a UN Security Council resolution on Syria,” Putin told an annual news conference, adding he had discussed the draft resolution with US Secretary of State John Kerry earlier this week.
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