Russia denies rumors Turkey downed another Russian jet

Russia's Defense Ministry denied recent social media rumors on Friday that Turkey had downed another Russian military aircraft, the Sputnik News agency reported.

"These claims are complete nonsense. All our aircraft that carrying out tasks to destroy terrorist infrastructure in Syria have safely returned to the airbase," ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.

Konashenkov added that over 50 international journalists from the US, Britain, France, Italy, China and other countries arrived in Syria to report from the Hmeymim airbase, where Russian combat aircraft are deployed this week and "it would absolutely impossible to hush up such a fact."

On November 24, a Russian Su-24 jet was shot down over Syria by a Turkish aircraft. Turkey claimed that the jet violated its airspace, while the Russian General Staff and the Syrian Air Defense Command have denied such claims. The incident led to a significant deterioration in relations between Turkey and Russia.

Source: MENA