MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The United Kingdom will not be involved in the decoding of data from the flight recorder of a Russian combat aircraft downed by a Turkish fighter jet over Syria, a Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman told Sputnik on Friday.
Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry said Russia invited experts from 14 countries to attend the opening of the flight recorder from the Russian Su-24 attack aircraft downed by the Turkish Air Force over Syria, but only representatives from the United Kingdom, the United States and China accepted the invitation.
"The UK Government was invited to the opening of the Black Box, but declined. No official representatives from the UK took part in the opening or will be involved in the ongoing investigation," the official said.
The "black box" from the downed Su-24 has been recovered in a special operation by the Syrian army and personnel from the Russian air group deployed in Syria earlier in December.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed hope that the data from the flight recorders would clarify the warplane's movement and trajectory before the crash.
