Moscow sees Ankara's airspace violation allegations as pretext for stepping up military activity near Syria - Foreign Ministry
MOSCOW. Feb 4 (Interfax) - Moscow believes that, by alleging that a Russian military aircraft violated Turkish airspace, Ankara is looking for a pretext for stepping up its military activity on the border with Syria, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.
"We have the impression that all these unfounded accusations that we have heard addressed to the Russian Aerospace Forces have been formulated by Ankara, among other things, in order to find a pretext or provide a smokescreen for stepping up their own military activity in the Turkish-Syrian border area," Zakharova said at a news briefing in Moscow on Thursday.
Ankara had claimed last Friday that a Russian military aircraft had violated Turkey's airspace. Moscow branded the accusation as unfounded propaganda.
