Turkey's downing of Russian warplane not in interest of both sides

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday expressed "deep regret and grave concern" over the incident of a Russian military plane downed by Turkish air force.

This incident was not in the interest of any of the countries involved, spokesman for the ministry Dmitry Mironchik said.

"Such tragic and very dangerous incidents cause deep regret and grave concern, especially when they occur in the region where the bloody armed conflict has been going on for a period of several years, and when the parties to such incidents are our brotherly Russia and friendly Turkey," Mironchik said.

He added that this event may entail political consequences for the common cause of the international community in combating international terrorism.

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry called on Russia and Turkey to de-escalate the situation and clarify all the details of the incident in order to avoid such tragic events in the future.

The Turkish air force said its warplanes shot down a Russian SU-24 frontline bomber near the Syrian-Turkish borders on Tuesday morning, claiming the Russian aircraft had violated Turkish airspace. Russia refuted Turkey's statement, saying the Russian plane was in Syrian airspace when it was shot down.

Sources: XINHUA