BREAKING: Russian Su-34 Jet Violates Turkish Airspace

A Russian SU-34 fighter jet has allegedly violated Turkish airspace straining the already fragile relationship between the countries.

Turkey has confirmed it has summoned the Russian ambassador to Ankara to explain the incursion.

The BBC reports:

The foreign ministry said a Russian SU-34 jet violated Turkish airspace on Friday despite warnings in both Russian and English.

Tensions have been high between Ankara and Moscow since Turkey shot down a Russian plane which violated its airspace near Syria in November.

The two have traded barbs and introduced retaliatory measures.

“A Su-34 plane belonging to the Russian Federation air force violated Turkish airspace at 11:46 local time yesterday (Friday),” the foreign ministry said.

Its statement went on to say that the Russian ambassador had been summoned to the foreign ministry to “strongly protest and condemn” the violation.

Russia Today had this to say:

The Russian embassy in Ankara confirms the envoy has been summoned.

“We confirm that the ambassador Andrey Karlov has had a meeting in the Turkish Foreign Ministry,” Igor Mityakov, the press-secretary of the Russian embassy in Ankara, told RIA Novosti following Turkey’s statement. He did not confirm the incident itself and provided no further comment.

It remains to be seen whether this will be just a storm in a tea cup or further increase diplomatic hostilities between the two countries.

SOURCE: Russian Su-34 Jet Violates Turkish Airspace