Putin says Turkey shooting down Russian jet near Syria a 'stab in the back'

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Turkey shooting down a Russian fighter jet on Tuesday is a "stab in the back", RT reported.

Turkey’s state-run press agency Anadolu said the plane violated the country's airspace and warned 10 times in five minutes before it was shot down by two F-16 jets, citing presidential sources.

However Russia believed the plane never entered Turkish airspace.

Putin, speaking to media during talks with the King of Jordan, gave the first confirmation from Russia that the plane was hit by Turkish jets, and warned that the incident will have grave consequences for Russia’s relations with Turkey.

He said the plane was flying 1km away from the Turkish border and was focussed on key terrorist targets in the Latakia province of Syria, according to RT.

The Russian leader said the plane posed no threat to Turkish national security, and alleged Turkey has acted as accomplices of terrorists by shooting down the plane.

Putin also said the pilots noticed the flow of oil from Syrian territory under the control of terrorists to Turkey, and RT said he claimed that ISIS has the protection of a nation’s military.

Syrian rebel group claims to have hit a Russian helicopter with an anti-tank missile, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

NATO confirmed in a statement that it will hold an extraordinary meeting at 5pm Brussels time (4pm UK time) at the request of Turkey to inform allies about the incident.

The statement said NATO is monitoring the situation closely and is in close contact with Turkish authorities.

Anadolu also released an image of the jet's flight path before it went down in Syria's northwestern Turkmen town of Bayirbucak, near Turkey’s border.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov earlier said it was too early to establish the exact reason the jet was shot down.

"So far, we have not heard the reason for the crash of our attack aircraft from the Defense Ministry," he said.

"We know for sure that the aircraft was in Syrian airspace, over the territory of Syria."

Peskov called for patience until more details are known.

"It would be wrong to make some kind of assumptions right now, to make any statements until we have the complete picture. Therefore, we just have to be patient.

"This is a very serious incident, but again, it is impossible to say anything without complete information."

#SONDAKİKA! Türkmen Dağı'nın yakınına savaş uçağı düştü... Uçağın düşme anını Habertürk TV ekibi görüntüledi https://t.co/PCUK9Z6RTA

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Russia’s defence ministry confirmed it was a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 fighter jet that was shot down and that according to preliminary data the pilots managed to eject from the warplane.

It initially said it believed the plane was “supposedly shot down from the ground”, however the ministry added that the plane had stayed within Syrian airspace and that “objective monitoring data shows it”.

According to Sky News, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Russian helicopter searching for the pilots has been shot down by Syrian rebel group.

It has been reported that both of the Russian fighter jet pilots are dead.

It is not the first time Russia has violated Turkey's airspace - F-16 fighter jets were scrambled in early October when a Russian warplane entered the country's airspace.

Russia said the incident was a "navigational error" and that it had "clarified" the matter.