Russia deployed its most powerful long-range air defence missiles at its air base in Syria on Thursday, reacting quickly after one of its warplanes was shot down by a Turkish air-to-air missile over the Syria-Turkey border just two days ago.
As Russian anger continued to simmer over the incident, Turkey refused to apologise, saying it air force was just "responding to ... violations of the rules of engagement."
The S-400 long-range missiles will be based in Syria's coastal province of Latakia, just 30 miles away from the border with Turkey, Fox News reported based from a report made by Russia's state-owned RIA Novosti news agency. The missiles are said to be capable of striking targets—both ballistic missiles and aircraft—within a 250-mile range with deadly precision.
Each S-400 battalion has up to 72 missiles, eight launchers, a control centre, two radars and a mast, a Daily Express report said.
With a missile speed of 11,000mph an hour, a response time of less than 10 seconds and the class-leading 250 mile range , the S-400 is a potential threat to Western aircraft flying over Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Cyprus, the report said, adding that only America's B-2 Stealth bomber and F-22 fighter can fly close to the system without being detected.
Russia also moved its navy missile cruiser Moskva closer to the shore to help protect Russian warplanes with its long-range Fort air defence system.
"It will be ready to destroy any aerial target posing a potential danger to our aircraft," Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting with military officials.
He also announced the cutting of all military ties with Turkey, adding that from now on, Russian bombers will always be escorted by fighters on combat missions over Syria.
Turkey appeared unfazed by the Russian sabre-rattling, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan telling CNN in Ankara on Thursday that his country will not apologise for downing a Russian warplane which he reiterated violated Turkish airspace near the Syrian border.
"I think if there is a party that needs to apologise, it is not us," Erdogan said. "Those who violated our airspace are the ones who need to apologise. Our pilots and our armed forces, they simply fulfilled their duties, which consisted of responding to ... violations of the rules of engagement. I think this is the essence."
Erdogan said, "If the same violation occurs today, Turkey has to react the same way."
Turkish authorities released an audio recording indicating that the Russian plane was warned several times that it was approaching Turkey's airspace and asked to change course. The voice is heard saying: "This is Turkish Air Force speaking on guard. You are approaching Turkish airspace. Change your heading south immediately."
Turkey informed the United Nations that two Russian planes disregarded warnings and violated Turkish airspace "to a depth of 1.36 miles and 1.15 miles in length for 17 seconds.
"We knew there were two aircraft. One aircraft went back into Syria, and the second one was still in Turkish airspace and it was shot down by our aircraft," Erdogan told CNN.
However, the Russian plane's surviving pilot denied that his jet veered into Turkey's airspace "even for a single second" and rejected Turkey's claim that it had issued repeated warnings to the Russian crew. The other pilot was killed by Syrian rebels while he was parachuting down. His crewmate was rescued by Syrian army commandos. A Russian marine was also killed by the militants during the rescue mission.
