Russia has indisputable proof that the Turkish jet F-4 Phantom was shot down in the Syrian airspace, a Russian military source stated on Monday.
The Interfax news agency quoted a “military-diplomatic source” as saying that Russia possessed “objective data on the flight itinerary” of the Turkish F-4 Phantom which was downed by Syrian air defences on June 22.
“This data proves conclusively that the jet violated the Syrian airspace,” the source told Interfax.
“Russia has its interests in Syria” and is monitoring the situation through different channels, the source said, adding that the Russian Air and Space Defence Forces and the Navy had capabilities to obtain and analyse such information.
Turkey has admitted that the Phantom debris fell into Syrian waters but maintains that it was shot down in international airspace and without warning.
A U.S. intelligence official told the Wall Street Journal that the Syrians had shot down Turkish warplane shore-based anti-aircraft artillery, not by surface-to-air missiles, which means the jet was flying inside Syrian airspace.
Russia has offered to share the information on the downed warplane.
“We have our objective observation data and we are prepared to present it,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a press conference following the Geneva international conference on Syria on Saturday.
Russian experts have suggested that the Turkish plane was on a reconnaissance mission and was shot down by the anti-aircraft guns of the Russian-built Pantsir-S1 short-to-medium range air defence system, which can also fire missiles.
