Russia
will pull out of Syria coalition if downing of jet is repeated, says
Putin
Russian
president agrees closer ties to defeat Islamic State but says any
more ‘unacceptable’
Staff and agencies
Friday 27 November
2015 02.45 GMT
incidents would mean
‘an end to cooperation with anybody’
Russia will pull out
of the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria if there was
any repeat of the shooting down of its fighter jet by Turkey,
Vladimir Putin has warned.
Speaking after talks
in the Kremlin with French president Francois Hollande, Putin voiced
lingering anger at Turkey’s actions, saying he viewed the downing
of the jet as an act of betrayal by a country Moscow had thought was
its friend.
The story of a
radicalisation: 'I was not thinking my thoughts. I was not myself'
Read more
And while Putin said
Moscow was ready to keep cooperating with western powers against the
“mutual enemy” of Isis, he said the downing of the jet by Turkey
this week was “unacceptable”.
“We are ready to
cooperate with the coalition which is led by the United States. But
of course incidents like the destruction of our aircraft and the
deaths of our servicemen ... are absolutely unacceptable,” Putin
said at a news conference with Hollande.
“And we proceed
from the position that there will be no repeat of this, otherwise
we’ll have no need of cooperation with anybody, any coalition, any
country.”
The Russian leader
said, under the cooperation already established with the US-led
coalition, Russia’s military had passed on details of the flight
plan of the jet that was shot down this week.
“Why did we pass
this information to the Americans? Either they were not controlling
what their allies were doing, or they are leaking this information
all over the place,” Putin said.
Hollande was on the
latest leg of a diplomatic mission to build a common front against
the militant Islamist group that has claimed responsibility for the
attacks in Paris two weeks ago that killed 130 people. He met US
president Barack Obama on Tuesday and has also asked David Cameron to
swing the British military behind the campaign.
With Russia
suffering an Isis-suspected attack on a passenger jet in the Sinai
peninsula in October, killing all 224 people on board, Hollande and
Putin agreed to greater military cooperation.
They would “exchange
information about which territories are occupied by the healthy part
of the opposition rather than terrorists, and will avoid targeting
them with our airstrikes”, Putin said.
Russia was ready to
cooperate with other groups ready to fight Isis and he reaffirmed
Moscow’s long-standing view that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad
was also an ally in the fight against terrorism.
Cameron sets out
'moral case' for airstrikes against Isis in Syria – Politics live
Rolling coverage of
all the day’s political developments as they happen, including
David Cameron’s statement to the Commons on the case for bombing
Islamic State (Isis) in Syria
Read more
“I believe that
the fate of the president of Syria must stay in the hands of the
Syrian people,” Putin said, describing the Syrian army as a
“natural ally” if Isis was to be defeated on the ground.
Hollande, in
contrast, said the Syrian head of state “does not have his place in
Syria’s future”.
Both Russia and
France have stepped up their aerial bombing campaigns in Syria since
the attacks in Paris. Both leaders said strikes against vehicles
transporting oil across territory controlled by Islamic State would
increase and thereby deliver a blow to a key source of financing for
the militant group.
But Putin used the
media conference to continue the war of words over the downing of the
jet by repeating accusations against Turkey of turning a blind eye to
oil smuggling by Islamic State.
He said it was
“theoretically possible” that Ankara was unaware of oil supplies
entering its territory from Isis-controlled areas of Syria but added
that this was hard to imagine.
Russian prime
minister Dmitry Medvedev alleged on Wednesday that Turkish officials
were benefiting from Isis oil sales, while foreign minister Sergei
Lavrov said it was no secret that “terrorists” use Turkish
territory.
Turkish president
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking in Ankara on Thursday, rejected the
accusations. “Shame on you. It’s clear where Turkey buys its oil
and gas ... Those who claim we are buying oil from [Isis] like this
must prove their claims. Nobody can slander this country.
“If you are
seeking the source of weaponry and financial power of [Isis], the
first place to look is the Assad regime and countries that act with
it,” he said.
Hollande said the
downing of the Russian jet highlighted the need for countries to
coordinate their military activities more closely to avoid a possible
repetition of what he called a “regrettable incident“. He again
called for a “de-escalation” of the tensions between Moscow and
Ankara.
Meanwhile France
will on Friday mourn the victims of the Paris attacks, with Hollande
leading a solemn ceremony in the capital.
Families of those
killed will join some of the wounded at ceremonies at the Invalides,
the gilded 17th-century complex in central Paris that houses a
military hospital and museum and Napoleon’s tomb.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário