Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayipp Erdogan, has accused Russia of directly supplying munitions to the Syrian government, after Turkish jets intercepted a plane en route from Moscow to Damascus.
Russia had earlier flatly denied that the Syrian plane, which was forced to land in Ankara, was carrying any military equipment. But Erdogan told reporters: "These were equipment and ammunition that were being sent from a Russian agency … to the Syrian defence ministry," the Associated Press reported. "Their examination is continuing and the necessary [action] will follow."
Erdogan's comments clearly implied that he was accusing Moscow of lying.
Earlier, in angry exchanges, Russia had accused the Turkish authorities of endangering Russian lives when the Syrian Air Airbus was intercepted by Turkish F16 fighter jets on Wednesday evening.
Turkish media reports said cargo confiscated from the plane before it was allowed to leave Ankara included radios, antennae and equipment "thought to be missile parts". Syria immediately condemned the Turkish action as piracy.
Turkey said previously that it had received an intelligence tip-off that the plane had illegal cargo on board. Erdogan warned last year that Turkey would be willing to take measures to "stop and confiscate" any shipment of military supplies, by air or sea, to Syria in contravention of its own unilateral embargo.
The incident underlines sharp and growing disagreements over the crisis – the bloodiest of the Arab spring – which Syrian opposition activists say has cost 30,000 lives in the last 19 months. On a new and alarming front, Turkey and Syria have traded artillery fire several times over their border in the past week.
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