One of the Russian pilots of a fighter jet shot down by Turkey on the Syrian border told state media on Wednesday that there was no prior warning from the Turks. [related-post] "There was no warning, not by radio exchange nor visually. There was no contact at all," Konstantin Murakhtin told Russian journalists at Moscow's base in Syria after being rescued by special forces. Earlier on Tuesday, Turkey had shot down a Russian warplane it said ignored repeated warnings and crossed into its airspace from Syria, killing at least one of the two pilots in a long-feared escalation in tensions between Russia and NATO. Russian President Vladimir Putin had denounced what he called a “stab in the back” and warned of “significant consequences.” (With inputs from AFP)
