Image via Shutterstock
Russian travellers have been advised not to visit Turkey after a warplane from Russia was shot down above the border with Syria.
One of Russia’s largest tour operators, Natali Tours, has reportedly suspended package holidays to the country.
Russia’s foreign minister was quoted as saying the terror threat in Turkey was no less than in Egypt, where a bomb attack brought down the Russian Metrojet Airbus killing all 224 people on board last month.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said his forces had been acting within their rules of engagement.
Turkey said the Su-24 aircraft had strayed into its airspace but Russian president, Vladimir Putin, insisted the jet had been hit by an air-to-air missile while flying over Syrian territory.
Breaking off military contacts with Turkey, Russia’s defence ministry said a cruiser equipped with an air defence system would be deployed in the Mediterranean to destroy “any targets representing a potential danger” for Russian forces in Syria.
Russian bombers carrying out air strikes over Syria will now be escorted by fighters, the military said.
The US, the EU and the UN have all appealed for calm after the Kremlin warned of “serious consequences” in revenge for the shooting down of the aircraft in which one of two crew members was killed after they ejected.