After 12 hours of searching, a Russian-Syrian special forces command rescued Captain Konstantin Murajtin in an area controlled by armed groups fighting the government army in the north of Lttakia, informed the Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
"That possibility is excluded, even for a second, especially since we flew at a height close to six thousand meters and the weather was clear", told Murajtin in statements to the Russian press, and published by local channels.
The pilot said that before the shot down they had full control of the flight with prior knowledge of the place and the location of the border, so there was no danger of getting into Turkey's space, he pointed out to reporters.
He continued by saying that the air-to-air missile fired from a Turkish F-16 fighter, unexpectedly hit the bomber and had no chance to avoid it. He refuted that they have been warned by the Turkish side.
There were no warnings by radio or visual, reiterated Murajtin, in response to statements of the Turkish military over alleged repeated warning signs.
hr/ycf/ro/oda
PL-59/MNA
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