Vice Chairman of Russia’s Duma Condemns Violating Syria’s Airspace by Turkish Warplane

Vice Chairman of the Russian State Duma Vladimir Zhirinovsky on Tuesday condemned the violation of the Syrian airspace by a Turkish military warplane.

Zhirinovsky described the incident as “a deliberate provocative act”, adding that some sides in the USA and Europe are seeking escalation of situation in Syria as a preface for a military intervention.

Zhirinovsky underlined that Turkey is involved in the international provocations, as it deliberately sent a military plane to violate the Syrian airspace.

He stressed that the Syrian anti-air defenses acted correctly by shooting down the warplane, adding that these defenses have large capabilities and are able to shoot down any aerial targets.

He called for Turkey to stop these provocative actions and to stop arming the Syrian opposition.

Umakhanov: Russia Insists That Syrians Exclusively Resolve The Crisis in Their Country

Deputy Chairman of the Council of the Federation Ilyas Umakhanov said that Russian leadership insists that the Syrian people exclusively solve all the problems related to the crisis in Syria.

In a joint statement after meeting Spokesman of the Iraqi Government Ali al-Dabbagh, Umakhanov said that encouraging and arming some groups in Syria leads to chaos, and that this becomes more dangerous as Islamist radical tendencies increase.

He said that Russia monitors the situation in Syria and surrounding area with deep concern, and that both Russia and Iraq are worried over the escalation in Syria according to the scenario of sedition.

In turn, al-Dabbagh said that the Islamist radical tendencies, which refer to Al Qaeda, affected the entire world, and that if the same disease that struck Afghanistan is repeated in Syria, then the consequences will be adverse.

Russian MPs Warn Against Exploiting Turkish Aircraft Incident to Carry Out Military Action Against Syria

Chairman of the Council of the Federation Committee on Defense and Security Viktor Ozerov warned against exploiting the incident of the Turkish aircraft’s violation of Syrian airspace to justify military action by the NATO against Syria.

In a statement, Ozerov said that any military action by NATO against Syria will undermine stability all over the Middle East, including Turkey, noting that the NATO used similar excuses to attack Iraq and former Yugoslavia.

He stressed the need for conducting a thorough investigation of the incident by international experts, postulating that it’s not unlikely that the pilot made an error.

In turn, Deputy Chairman of the Federation Councils International Affairs Committee Valery Shnyakin said that using force to deal with developments in Syria will undermine the entire region’s stability, underlining the danger of attempts by certain forces in the Middle East or the west to entangle Turkey in a war against Syria.

Shnyakin noted that Turkey harbors Syrian opposition figures, and that many experts tend to believe that the violation of Syrian airspace was a test of the Syrian anti-air defenses, adding that world media are now saying that the alleged Syrian refugees in Turkey are actually militias of the so-called “free army.”

However, he said that news of Syria and Turkey cooperating to find the downed aircraft’s pilots is encouraging and shows that there’s still room for negotiations, voicing belief that the Turkish authorities aren’t interested in waging war on Syria and that the Syrian authorities aren’t as weak as some may think, and that they have what it takes to deal with the events in the country.