Su-24 Posed No Threat to Turkey - Deputy Head of Russian Aerospace Forces

Downed Su-24 posed no threat to Turkey, Deputy Head of Russian Aerospace Forces said during a briefing Friday.

The Deputy Head of the Russian Aerospace Forces also stated that Russia has proof the downed Su-24 had never crossed the Turkish border.   

#SYRIA #Dronov: We have all the necessary evidence confirming that the Russian #SU24 had not breached the air space of Turkey

— Минобороны России (@mod_russia) 18 декабря 2015

"In any case the downed Russian Su-24 bomber jet was of no threat to Turkey and its citizens," Sergei Dronov said. 

"At present we can say that we have all the necessary info at our disposal: we do have proof that the Russian Su-24 did not violate the Turkish air space." 

He also added that Russian bomber jet's flight data recorder is currently in condition found at crash site. 

"We have not done anything with the black boxes yet. The flight data recorder remains in its initial condition," Dronov assured at a briefing in Moscow. 

The Russian Su-24 bomber was brought down over Syria on November 24 by an air-to-air missile fired from the Turkish F-16 fighter in response to an alleged violation of Turkish airspace. Both Russian and Syrian defense officials confirmed that the Su-24 never crossed into Turkish airspace.

In response to the incident, Moscow introduced a set of measures against Ankara. The measures, which ban or restrict the activities of Turkish organizations in Russia and prohibit Russian employers to hire Turkish citizens, are due to take effect from January 1, 2016.