Russia's Lavrov Calls Jet Downing 'Planned Provocation'

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks to journalists at the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black sea resort of Sochi, Russia, November 25, 2015, following a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with visiting King Abdullah II of Jordan.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has described the incident with a Russian warplane at the Turkish-Syrian border as a "planned provocation".

A day earlier, hours after the incident occurred, Lavrov canceled a visit to Turkey that had been scheduled for Wednesday.

English-language Zaman reports Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, discussed the developments over the phone, more than 24 hours after the jet was downed.

TASS quotes Russia's top diplomat as suggesting the attack by two Turkish F-16s on the Russian fighter bomber SU-24 looked deliberate.

He argued that the "hotline" set up between Turkey and Russia after Moscow's decision to start an operation in Syria had not been used to prevent the incident.

"This raises a lot of questions," he said.

He pointed to the fact the Russian aircraft had been downed after hitting oilfields used by the Islamic State (IS) group.

Lavrov thus made a reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin's Tuesday comments that Turkey used much oil from IS-controlled oilfields.

On Wednesday, Putin accused the government of Turkey of fomenting radical Islam in the country.

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