The surviving crewman of a Russian jet fighter shot down on the Syrian border was rescued early Wednesday in a 12-hour mission after hiding and sending an emergency radio signal, according to reports.
Capt. Konstantin Murakhtin and the pilot, Lt. Col. Oleg Peshkov, ejected from their Su-24 after it was hit by Turkish F-16s on Tuesday — but Peshkov was shot and killed by Syrian Turkmen rebels on the ground, The Guardian reported.
Murakhtin, the navigator, told Russian TV there was “no way” his jet could have violated Turkish airspace, as Ankara has claimed.
He also denied Turkish claims that 10 warnings were sent to the Russian aircraft before the F-16s shot it down.
“There were no warnings. Not via the radio, not visually. There was no contact whatsoever,” Murakhtin said, the Independent reported. “That’s why we were keeping our combat course as usual. If they wanted to warn us, they could have shown themselves by heading on a parallel course.
“But there was nothing. And the rocket hit our tail completely unexpectedly. We didn’t even see it in time to take evasive maneuvers,” he added.
Turkish authorities released audio to back up their claim that the Russians were warned.
A voice speaking in English can be heard ordering the Su-24 to “change your heading south immediately” as it neared the edge of Syrian airspace, the Independent reported.
“This is Turkish air force speaking — en garde. You are approaching Turkish airspace,” it warns.
Murakhtin, who said he knew the area “like the back of my hand,” is receiving medical treatment at the Khmeimim air base in Syria, where Russian warplanes have been based.
He said he wants to stay in Syria and continue flying sorties in the campaign.
“I can’t wait until I get the all-clear from the medics, so that I can step back into the ranks,” he said, the Independent reported. “I’m going to ask our command to keep me on this base (in Syria) — I have a debt to repay, for my commander.”
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Murakhtin thanked “all our guys, who worked through the night at huge risk to themselves,” the Guardian reported.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Peshkov will receive the country’s highest military honor, the Hero of Russia award, posthumously.
The Order of Courage will be awarded to Murakhtin, who was found by an 18-man Syrian special forces team assisted by six members of an elite Hezbollah unit, the Russian agency LifeNews reported.
A Russian marine, Alexander Pozynich, also was killed during a search-and-rescue mission for the crewmen, when an Mi-8 helicopter was blown up, apparently by an anti-tank missile fired by Syrian rebels.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday said, “We have serious doubts this was an unintended incident and believe this is a planned provocation.”
Lavrov — who spoke to his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, for an hour — said that even if the Su-24 had strayed into Turkish airspace, there were no grounds for shooting it down, the Guardian reported.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday reiterated his claim the Russian jet was in Turkish airspace. He said parts of the wreckage fell into Turkey, injuring two people.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday warned that the “damage will be hard to repair.”
Russian officials have raised possible responses such as a ban on Turkish airlines or canceling a proposed gas pipeline between the two countries.
“We cannot leave what happened without a response,” said Lavrov, the foreign minister.
But he discounted speculation about military retaliation, flatly saying: “We’re not going to war against Turkey.”
Lavrov said the incident has dealt a major blow to already fragile relations with NATO.
Erdogan tried to ease tensions, saying his country favors “peace, dialogue and diplomacy.”
But he again defended his country’s move to shoot down the plane, saying “no one should expect Turkey to stay silent to border violations or the violation of its rights,” the AP reported.
Meanwhile, Russia flexed its muscle in Syria, saying new anti-missile systems will be deployed at an air base less than 20 miles from the Turkish border as it ratchets up its airstrikes in Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad’s rocky regime.
It plans to deploy powerful S-400 anti-missile systems to Khmeimim in northwestern Syria. The missiles, which have a range of 250 miles, could create headaches for coalition aircraft targeting the Islamic State.
Russian officials raised unsupported theories that Turkey was sheltering the Islamic State from Russian attacks or was safeguarding lucrative oil smuggling routes used by the terror group.
Lavrov said the Su-24 was attacked after “making extremely effective strikes on the oil tanker trucks and oil fields.”
Turkey and its Western allies have backed rebel groups seeking to topple Assad in Syria’s nearly five-year civil war.
Pentagon officials, meanwhile, have raised concerns about possible mishaps between Russia’s air campaign and a US-led coalition targeting Islamic State jihadists.
The fallout could complicate efforts in the fight against the terror group, which has claimed responsibility for the Nov. 13 Paris attacks that killed at least 130, as well as the Oct. 31 downing of a Russian passenger plane over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula that killed all 224 aboard.
Meanwhile, Russian tour operators have canceled most of their packages to Turkish resorts, the Interfax news service reported. More than 3 million tourists visited the popular vacation destination from Russia last year.
In Moscow, protesters threw eggs and stones at the Turkish Embassy, but no serious damage was reported.
With Post wires