Turkey’s attack on Russian Su-24 plane was deliberately planned action — Russian lawmaker

A Russian lawmaker on Wednesday said Turkey’s attack on the Russian Su24 bomber could be a deliberately planned action coordinated with the United States.

"It was a deliberate action and I think it was well-prepared," Alexei Pushkov, the chairman of the international committee of the Russian State Duma lower parliament house, said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel. He underscored that long-term consequences of such actions taken by Turkey would be "very negative."

"I doubt that Turkey had contacted Washington and Washington gave the go-ahead to such actions but I think it is highly probable such Turkey’s reaction had been looked at in principle," Pushkov said, adding that such a possibility could be proved by support to Turkey voiced by U.S. President Barack Obama and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who said that Turkey had the right to protect its sovereignty. I don’t think apologies can change anything. We shouldn’t expect any apologies. We should restructure our relations with Turkey so that the future government was fully aware that such actions in respect of Russia are inadmissible," he said.