Peskov: Russia is not ready to initiate reconciliation with Turkey
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is not willing to initiate any type of reconciliation with Turkey, Rosbalt reported.
Relations between Moscow and Ankara have deteriorated significantly following the downing of a Russian Su-24 frontline bomber by a Turkish F-16 fighter over the Syrian-Turkish border in November of last year.
Ankara claims that the Su-24 violated Turkish airspace. Russia, in turn, insists that the aircraft stayed on the Syrian side of the border.
During an interview on the program “Right to Know”, which aired on the TVC television channel, Peskov stated that if he were in Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s position, he would have resigned.
According to Peskov, relations between Russia and Turkey before the incident were very positive, but the relationship soured due to “a man-made disaster”.
“The author of this trouble was Ankara, and only it [the Turkish government] can minimize its consequences. Now Russia is not at all ready to initiate contact with the Turkish side,” Peskov concluded.
Recently, Russia expanded the list of sanctioned Turkish products to include pomegranates and peppers.