(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) MOSCOW, Sept 18 (KUNA) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has criticized the Israeli air forces' violation of Syrian airspace and of the Russian-Israeli agreements to avoid air conflicts there.
In a phone conversation with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, Putin warned the Israeli side against the repetition of such acts which led to the downing of a Russian Ilyushin Il-20 plane in Syria on Monday and the killing of 15 Russian servicemen.
"Putin pointed to the fact that such operation of the Israeli air forces are conducted in violation of Syria's sovereignty," the Kremlin said in a press statement.
"In this case, the Russian-Israeli agreements on incident prevention were not observed either. As a result, the Russian plane came under fire from Syrian air defense systems." The Russian president "called on the Israeli side to avoid such situations." For his part, the Israeli prime minister offered his condolences over the death of 15 Russian servicemen.
"Benjamin Netanyahu promised to provide detailed information on the activities of the Israeli air forces over the Syrian territory on that day for the purposes of meticulous investigation of the tragedy, and the commander of the Israeli air force will bring it to Moscow shortly," the Kremlin noted.
In the meantime, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said at a meeting with the charge d'affaires at the Israeli embassy in Moscow, Keren Cohen Gat that Russia will take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of its service members in Syria.
"Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vershinin stressed that Moscow considers the Israeli air forces' actions as irresponsible and unfriendly when they put the Russian Il-20 plane in line of fire of Syria air defense systems. As a result, 15 Russian servicemen were killed," the Russian foreign ministry said after the meeting.
"It was noted that the Russian side will take all necessary measures to avoid threats to the lives and security of Russian servicemen who are helping the Syrian people uproot terrorism." The Russian defense ministry said earlier that a Russian Ilyushin Il-20 plane that was flying back to the airbase at Syria's Hmeymim crashed over the Mediterranean Sea late on Monday. According to the ministry, four Israeli F-16 fighter jet were delivering airstrikes on Syrian targets in the Latakia governorate at the moment. The ministry said the Russian Il-20 was shot down by Syria's air defense over the Mediterranean Sea because Israel's F-16 fighter jets used it as a cover, since the Israeli command centers and the F-16s' pilots could not but see the Russian plane, which was approaching the runway from an altitude of five kilometers. (Pick up previous) os.ibi
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