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Turkey to face tough response

Tensions between Dmitry Medvedev (L) and Recep Tayyip Erdogan are rising. ABC

Tensions between Dmitry Medvedev (L) and Recep Tayyip Erdogan are rising. ABC

Russia says it is preparing a raft of retaliatory economic measures against Turkey over the downing of one of its warplanes, as tensions between the two nations heat up.

Turkey said its F-16 jets shot down the Russian plane under its rules of engagement, while Moscow says the act was a “planned provocation”.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev promised a tough response from Moscow, a major trade partner of Ankara.

• Leaders urge against Russia response
• Russian warplane shot down near Syria-Turkey border
• Russia bombards Syria from warships

“The government has been ordered to work out a system of response measures to this act of aggression in the economic and humanitarian spheres,” he told a cabinet meeting in televised comments.

He said the broad punitive steps could include halting joint economic projects, restricting financial and trade transactions and changing customs duties.

Measures would also target the tourism and transport sectors, labour markets and “humanitarian contacts”, Mr Medvedev said.

“I propose doing all this in a period of two days so that we can move to setting up the appropriate procedures as quickly as possible,” he told government ministers.

Tensions between Dmitry Medvedev (L) and Recep Tayyip Erdogan are rising.

Tensions between Dmitry Medvedev (L) and Recep Tayyip Erdogan are rising. ABC

Moscow has already warned its nationals against visiting Turkey and stepped up controls of Turkish agricultural imports.

Turkey summoned the Russian ambassador to Ankara on Thursday over a violent demonstration that took place outside the Turkish embassy in Moscow after the incident.

The Turkish foreign ministry said it wanted to express Turkey’s discontent over the “unacceptable” incident as well as over a series of incidents against Turkish companies in Russia, the ministry said in a written statement.

Russia accuses Turkey of buying oil from Islamic State

The downing of the jet on Tuesday was one of the most serious publicly acknowledged clashes between a NATO member and Russia for half a century, and further complicated international efforts to battle Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria.

Mr Medvedev’s comments came as Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan denied a Russian charge that Ankara buys oil from IS militants.

Mr Erdogan said Turkey does not buy any oil from IS, insisting that his country’s fight against the jihadist group is “undisputed”.

russia warplane on fire

The plane was trailed by a tail of flames. Getty

“Shame on you. Those who claim we buy oil from Daesh (IS) are obliged to prove it. If not, you are a slanderer,” Mr Erdogan said.

“There is no question mark here. Nobody has the right to dispute our country’s fight against Daesh or to incriminate us.”

Earlier, the Turkish military released what is says are a series of audio recordings of warnings issued to the Russian jet shot down near the Syrian border.

The crew ejected and one pilot was shot dead by rebels as he parachuted to the ground.

A Russian marine sent to recover the crew was also killed in an attack by rebels.

The surviving pilot said no warning had been given and the aircraft did not violate the Turkish air space, although Turkey insists that it gave 10 warnings in five minutes.

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