"Instantly attacking a plane that just entered foreign airspace is strange. Furthermore, Russia refuted accusations that the violation occurred in the first place," Vojinovic told Sputnik Radio. Moscow said that the Su-24 was flying an anti-ISIL mission over Syrian territory.
Turkey claims that it issued ten warnings in the 17 seconds the Russian plane allegedly spent in Turkish airspace. This where the facts as presented by Ankara do not add up, the expert maintains.
Even if we imagine that the Russian plane did violate Turkish airspace, as Ankara suggests, it would have been strange to do anything about it, Vojinovic emphasized.
"Turkey claims that it warned Russian plane ten times. Issuing so many warnings would have taken five minutes. Here lies an inconsistency – they say the violation lasted 17 seconds but they would have spent five minutes issuing warnings," the expert pointed out.
On Tuesday, the Turkish Air Force brought down the Su-24 bomber, which was engaged in anti-ISIL efforts in Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin described the incident as a "stab in the back by accomplices of terrorists."
After the Su-24 was hit by a missile, the two pilots ejected. The navigator was rescued in a 12-hour operation by Russian and Syrian special forces, while the other pilot appears to have been killed while descending to the ground by militants from a Syrian Turkmen brigade.
Vojinovic called the death of the Su-24 pilot "a classic murder."
