Alive: One of the two downed Russian pilots ‘safe after 12-hour rescue mission’

One of the pilots of the Russian jet shot down by Turkey survived and is thought to be on his way back to his base, Russia’s defence minister has said. The flight engineer was rescued after a 12-hour mission by special forces on the ground in Syria, said Sergei Shoigu. He is now believed to be back at Russia’s Hemeimeem air base, near the city of Latakia. His colleague - presumed to be the pilot - was wounded as he parachuted down and killed on the ground by “jihadists in the area”, diplomats said. Russia also announced it was sending its S-400 missile system to Syria to defend its airbase.

The operation was successful. The engineer was delivered to our airbase, he is alive and well. I wanted to thank all our boys, who were working all night with great risk. At 03.40 am they completed their work.

Defence minister Sergei Shoigu

According to a US official, the SU-24 jet was hit inside Syrian airspace after briefly entering Turkish airspace. Russian president Vladimir Putin says the act was “a stab in the back” and would have serious consequences. However, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday: "We do not intend to wage a war on Turkey. Our attitude to the Turkish people has not changed. We have questions over the action of Turkey’s current leadership.“ However, he pledged that Moscow would "seriously reconsider” its relations with Ankara. Meanwhile, several hundred young activists on Wednesday hurled stones and eggs at Turkey’s embassy in Moscow and brandished anti-Turkish placards.

Diplomacy and de-escalation are important to resolve this situation.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg

Politics Russia Turkey