The Turkish military's decision to shoot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border Tuesday is "potentially significant," said former Ambassador John Bolton and he laid the responsibility "totally at Moscow's doorstep." Bolton said President Barack Obama should tell Russian President Vladimir Putin to "back off."
"They shouldn't be in this region at all," Bolton told
Fox News' "America's Newsroom" host Bill Hemmer. "This kind of incident in the air was entirely predictable. The only surprise is it hasn't happened before. I'm inclined to blame Turkey, based on incomplete information we have."
Moscow is saying it can prove the jet did not leave Syrian air space, and the downed jet marks the first time a NATO member has
downed a Russian or Soviet military aircraft since the 1950s.
"We understand that everyone has their own interests, but we won't allow such crimes to take place," Putin said at talks with Jordanian King Abdullah in Sochi. "We received a stab in the back from accomplices of terrorism."
According to reports, the Russian fighter was given 10 warnings in five minutes to turn back, Hemmer said, and that did not happen.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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