Based on data from radio-electronic surveillance equipment, the press release from the Ministry of Defense notes that the plane was flying at an altitude of 6,000 meters in Syria's air space.
The source points out that a ground-air projectile brought down the Russian fighter, although it adds that all circumstances of the incident and the whereabouts of the pilots, who may have ejected themselves, are under investigation.
Turkish military spokespersons, in turn, tried to justify the attack on one of the Russian planes fighting the ISIL and other terrorist groups in Syria, claiming that the aircraft had violated Turkish borders.
The Turkish Air Force reported "the shooting down of an unidentified military plane" after the aircraft, according to Ankara, entered Turkey's air space on the border with Syria, CNN Turk reported.
According to the Russian military analyst Alexander Slatki, Turkey's shooting down of the Su-24 plane in Syria is related to oil smuggling by the ISIL through that country.
In statements to the federal channel 24, Slatki recalled that the aircraft is one of the planes that has over the past few weeks destroyed more than 500 cistern trucks belonging to the ISIL and carrying tons of fuel stolen from Syria to sell it in Turkey and use it as one of its main financing sources.
In light of this provocation, Russia's main objective right now is to save the pilots and "not allow a second time", the analyst stressed.
At the recent summit of the world's 20 most developed economies (G20) in Antalya, Turkey, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters that he had shown his colleagues images taken from satellites and planes in which it is clearly seen the volume of illegal oil and byproducts smuggled by the terrorists.
Interviewed by the Russian channel RT, the writer and roving correspondent for Asia Times/Hong Kong and Tom Dispatch, Pepe Escobar, considered that Putin's action proved to the world, graphically, the myth that the United States and its allies are seriously committed to fighting terrorism in Syria.
Escobar recalled the denunciation made by Gursel Tekin, a member of the Socialist Party of Turkey, who claims that the ISIL oil is smuggled into Turkey by BMZ, a transport company controlled by Bilal Erdogan, the son of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Recently, the Russian minister of Defense, Army General Sergei Shoigu said that as a result of the Russian aviation's raids, the ISIL losses 60 tons of oil and 1.5 billion dollars.
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