Aviation

This month's deadly terror attacks in Paris and the downing of the Russian passenger plane in Egypt highlight the need for Moscow and Paris to join forces in the fight against terrorism, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

Bulgaria's opposition nationalist party Ataka has staged protest action in front of Turkey's Embassy building in Sofia on Thursday over the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkish Air Force.

Some 150 people have taken part in the rally under the motto 'Turkey has declared war on Russia; on which side are we?', according to local media reports.

Fifteen people were killed and ten others are in intensive care after a Russian Mi-8 helicopter crashed in the Krasnoyarsk territory in Eastern Siberia on Thursday.

Earlier reports suggested that the crash claimed the lives of twelve people, TASS news agency informs.

There were 25 people on board the helicopter, among them 22 passengers and three crew members.

The rescued pilot surviving pilot of the Russian warplane downed by Turkey has said that no warnings of airspace violation were issued by Turkish Air Force.

The surviving pilot of  the Su-24 bomber has told Rossiya-1 TV channel that there was no possibility for his plane to enter the Turkish airspace as the weather was clear and the jet was flying at an altitude of 6,000 meters.

One of the Russian pilots of a fighter jet shot down by Turkey on the Syrian border told state media on Nov. 25 that there was no prior warning.
 
"There was no warning, not by radio exchange nor visually. There was no contact at all," navigator Konstantin Murakhtin told Russian journalists at Moscow's base in Syria after being rescued by special forces.
 

The Turkish Air Force has increased the number of warplanes patrolling the Turkish-Syrian border after the downing of a Russian jet fighter by a Turkish F-16 on Nov. 24, while Moscow fortified its military presence in Syria with additional missiles. 

The Turkish Air Force has increased the number of warplanes patrolling the Turkish-Syrian border to 18 after the downing of a Russian jetfighter by a Turkish F-16 on Nov. 24 triggered unprecedented tension between Ankara and Moscow.   

The second pilot of the Russian Su-24 warplane, which was brought down by Turkey near the Turkish-Syrian border on Tuesday, is safe and sound.

This was announced by Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu on Wednesday, TASS news agency informs.

The pilot was rescued by Russian and Syrian forces and taken to base, in an operation which lasted for twelve hours.

Russian Ambassador to France, Aleksandr Orlov, told Europe 1 radio that one of the Russian pilots who ejected from the Su-24 jet that was shot down by Turkey has managed to survive as he was picked up by the Syrian army. Both pilots were shot at as they parachuted from the plane said Russia’s defence ministry while a marine helicopter later came under fire.

A Russian Mi-8 helicopter has come under attack during a search and rescue operation tasked with saving the two pilots of the downed Su-24 warplane in Syria, the Russian military said on Tuesday.