Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov: "The incident with the Russian Su-24 looks like a planned provocation."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is speaking now about the Su-24 incident.
Lavrov says that the Turkish Foreign Ministry tried to justify the actions of the Turkish air force by talking about a border violation.
Iran's Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has told his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov that the downing of the Russian Su -24 jet could lead to an escalation of the Syrian crisis, Iranian news websites are reporting.
Zarif spoke to Lavrov by telephone yesterday evening, November 24, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman said this morning.
The Iranian Foreign Minister said the Su-24 incident had "sent the wrong signal to terrorists."
Iran, like Russia, is a major ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government.
The New York Times has published some interesting graphics that compare the conflicting claims by Turkey and Russia over what flight path the downed Su-24 took before it was shot down.
Turkey says that the Su-24 had violated its air space. Russia argues that the jet never entered Turkish air space but remained in Syria.
The graphics show the different flight paths that Russia and Turkey claim the jet took. Turkey's claims show the plane entering Turkish air space while the flight path supplied by Russia show the jet avoiding the Turkish border.
Russia's Life News, which has links to the country's intelligence services, is claiming that the navigator from the downed Russian Su-24 was found in a forested border area in Latakia using data from radio beacons.
A group of 18 Russian special forces and six fighters from an "elite unit" in the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah were involved in the rescue operation, according to Life News.
The navigator spent almost 24 hours hiding in a thicket after parachuting six kilometers inland, the report claimed.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has commented on the downing of the Russian Su-24 jet by Turkey.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is comment shortly on yesterday's Su-24 downing by Turkey, Russian media are reporting.
Russian bombers carrying out operations over Syria will be escorted by fighter jets from now on, Russian defence official Lt-Gen Sergey Rudskoy has said.
Rudskoy announced a series of measures that Russia says it will be taking in the wake of the downing by Turkey yesterday of a Russian Su-24 jet.
These include the despatch of S-300 anti-aircraft systems to Latakia province in Syria as well as the deployment of the Moskva missile cruiser off the Syrian coast.
"We are warning that all targets that represent a potential danger for us will be destroyed," Rudskoy said. "Thirdly, contacts with Turkey in the military sphere will be severed."
Russia has awarded the pilot of the downed Su-24 a posthumous Hero of the Russian Federation medal.
The award was conferred after Russian President Putin signed a decree this morning, "On the awarding of state medals of the Russian Federation to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation."
The proposal to award the pilot a posthumous medal was made by the Defense Ministry, Putin told reporters this morning.
The Kremlin has published a transcript of Russian President Vladimir Putin's answers to two questions from journalists about the downing of the Su-24 jet by Turkey as well as a video of Putin answering the questions.
Here are translated excerpts from Putin's answers:
Question: Yesterday , the Foreign Ministry recommended that our tourists don't travel to Turkey. What do you think about that recommendation? Hundreds of our citizens vacation there.
Putin: What's to be done! After such tragic events as the destruction of our plane and the death of a pilot, this is a necessary measure...
The problem is not even with the tragedy we faced yesterday. The problem is far deeper. We are seeing -- and it's not just us, let me assure you, it's seen all over the world -- the current leadership of Turkey over a number of years has been conducting a deliberate internal policy of Islamizing its country.
Islam is a great world religion, it's one of the traditional religions of the Russian Federation, we ourselves support Islam and we will continue to do so. But we are talking about support for more radical, as it were, tendencies, and this in itself creates a very hostile environment and atmosphere , which is not noticeable at first. That is the first thing.
Secondly, after what happened yesterday, we cannot exclude any other incidents. And if these occur, we have to react somehow to them. And our citizens, in Turkey, of course could be exposed to significant danger and the Foreign Ministry has to mention that.
Question: Everyone is concerned about the fate of the second pilot, is there any information about him?
Putin: Yes, he has been rescued, it was the navigator. I think that he is in our base, in the aerodrome, and he alongside everyone else involved in the rescue operation, will be awarded state awards. The Ministry of Defense came up with that proposal. The commander of the vessel will be awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation medal posthumously.