The Russian pilot whose plane was shot down by Turkey over the Syrian border has refuted claims he was occupying Turkish airspace.
Russia’s Konstantin Murakhtin’s fighter jet was hit by a missile fired by Turkish forces. Murakhtin and his co-pilot, Oleg Peshkov, were then captured by insurgents who held them until Russian forces tracked his radio beacon.
“It’s impossible that we violated their airspace even for a second. We were flying at an altitude of 6000 meters in completely clear weather, and I had total control of our flight path throughout,” Murakhtin told the Russian media.
The pilot also denied any claims that the plane was given a warning before the missile struck.
“In actual fact, there were no warnings at all. Neither through the radio, nor visually, so we did not at any point adjust our course,” said Murakhtin.
“You need to understand the difference in speed between a tactical bomber like a SU-24, and that of the F16. If they wanted to warn us, they could have sat on our wing,” he explained, “As it was, the missile hit the back of our plane out of nowhere. We didn’t even have time to make an evasive manoeuvre.”
This statement contradicts previous statements released by Turkey, who had insisted that the jet was flying over Turkish airspace.
