Russia's Violation of Turkish Airspace 'Does Not Look Like an Accident'

NATO's Secretary-General said today he doubted Russia's explanation that its weekend violations of Turkey's airspace was a mistake because there were two such incursions and they lasted longer than just a few seconds.

"I will not speculate on the motives but this does not look like an accident… and we have two of them," Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference on Tuesday, referring to the incursions and noting their duration.

Stoltenberg said the US-led NATO alliance, of which Turkey is a member, had not received "any real explanation" of what happened. He said he had not had any direct contact with Moscow but NATO has discussed the possibility of using its military lines of communication with Russia.

Following Russia's move to launch air strikes in Syria last week, Stoltenberg added that NATO also had reports of a substantial Russian military build-up there, including ground troops and ships in the eastern Mediterranean.

"I can confirm that we have seen a substantial build-up of Russian forces in Syria: air forces, air defenses, but also ground troops in connection with the air base they have, and we also see an increased naval presence," Stoltenberg said.

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Stoltenberg declined to comment on whether the Russian planes had locked their radar on the F-16 Turkish jets scrambled on Saturday to remove Russian aircraft from the airspace, usually a prelude to firing.

Separately, a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the incursions lasted more than a few seconds and described Moscow's assertion that the incursions were an accident as "far-fetched."

Meanwhile, Russia's NATO envoy said that he thought the military alliance was using the accidental incursion to distort the aims of Moscow's air campaign in Syria, according to the TASS news agency.

"The impression is that the incident in Turkish airspace was used to plug NATO as an organization into the information campaign waged by the West to distort the aims of the operations carried out by the Russian air force in Syria," Alexander Grushko was quoted as telling reporters in Brussels.

The Russian government is also looking into an allegation that one of its jets operating in Syria violated Turkish airspace for a second time, the Russian embassy in Ankara said on Tuesday, according to TASS.

Turkey complained late on Monday that a Russian warplane had violated its airspace on Sunday, the second such breach in three days, prompting Ankara to once again summon Moscow's ambassador.

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"The Turkish foreign ministry summoned our ambassador for the second time on Monday," Igor Mityakov, the Russian embassy's press attaché, was quoted as saying. "The Turkish side handed over information linked to a violation of its airspace. The Russian side is checking the data," he said.

The Russian defense ministry said the first incursion had been accidental and that a Su-30 jet had entered Turkish airspace "for a few seconds." It said "necessary measures" had been taken to ensure there would be no repeat of the incident.

Moscow said the Syrian airbase from which Russian planes were flying missions, Khmeimim, was located about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the Turkish border and that its aircraft had to approach it from the north in certain weather conditions.

"The incident was the result of unfavorable weather conditions in the area," the ministry said in a statement on Monday, referring to the first incursion. "So there's no need to look for any conspiracy theories here."

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