Putin: Let Turkish Planes Fly Now!, Only Syrians Can Decide Their Fate

Turkey will not be able to violate the Syria airspace after Russia had deployed S-400 defense system in Hmeymim airabse, Russian president Vladimir Putin told journalists during the press-conference in Moscow.

He also said that Russia’s stance on Syria has not changed and “Russia will not let any state impose their will”. The Russian president stressed that only Syrian people are to decide their own fate.

President says that the incident with the downing of the Russian bomber is not just an unfriendly act but a hostile act. Moreover, Turkey ran to complain to NATO instead of settling it. Had it been an accident they could have apologized. It is outrageous.

Whether there is a third party involved, I still don’t know. If there were any goals on the Turkish side, they were not achieved.
“It is very difficult, almost impossible to maintain contacts with the current Turkish leadership”, he said.

Putin added “I see no prospects to recover relations with the Turkish authorities at the highest level”. The S-400 Triumf (NATO reporting name SA-21 Growler) is Russia’s next-generation air defense system, carrying three different types of missiles capable of destroying aerial targets at short-to-extremely long range, Sputnik News reports.

In late November, the S-400 systems were deployed at the Hmeimim airbase near the Syrian port city of Latakia to protect anti-terror operations by Russia’s Aerospace Forces. The decision was made one day after Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24 aircraft.