Lavrov, Kerry discuss Turkish Air Force’s attack on Russian Su-24

MOSCOW, November 25. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday discussed by phone the situation around the Turkish Air Force’s attack on a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M bomber, political settlement in Syria and the blocking of power supplies to Crimea, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported. The ministry said the conversation took place at the American side’s request. "The situation around an unprovoked attack by Turkey’s Air Force on a Russian bomber, which was fulfilling the task to fight terrorists on Syrian territory, was discussed," the ministry said. "The minister pointed to a gross violation of the Russian-American memorandum on ensuring safety of combat aircraft flights in Syria, in which the United States assumed responsibility for observance of relevant regulations by all participants of the coalition it leads, including Turkey," it said. A Turkish Air Force fighter on Tuesday shot down a Russian Su-24M bomber, which, Ankara claims, violated the country’s airspace near the border with Syria. Russia’s Defense Ministry says the Su-24M was above Syrian territory and "there was no violation of Turkey’s airspace." Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that the attack will have "serious consequences" for Russian-Turkish relations. Lavrov and Kerry "continued exchange of opinions regarding the prospects of launching the process of political settlement of the Syrian conflict." "They agreed that the condition for convening a regular ministerial meeting of the international group of support for Syria is implementation of the agreements reached November 14 in Vienna on the necessity to clarify issues of formation of a representative delegation of the Syrian opposition for talks with the government of the Syrian Arab Republic under UN aegis and for compiling a list of terrorist organizations that must be completely excluded from the political process and neutralized by military means," the ministry said. It said some other urgent issues of the international agenda, including "unacceptable actions of the Ukrainian authorities to block power supplies to Crimea", were discussed as well. The regime of an emergency situation has been active in Crimea since November 22 because power supplies from Ukraine were halted. Own generation on the peninsula may account for at most half of the required power demand. A system of rolling blackouts was introduced on the peninsula. Power is supplied to Crimea’s key infrastructure and vital activity facilities from reserve sources. Read more