Putin Blames 'Tragic Circumstances' For Russian Aircraft Crash

Library image of a Russian Ilyushin IL-20 aircraft (Picture: Crown Copyright).

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that "a chain of tragic circumstances" is to be blamed for a military aircraft shot down by a Syrian missile.

He also vowed to boost security for Russian troops stationed in the region.

A Russian IL-20 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down by Syrian missile defence over the Mediterranean Sea late on Monday.

All 15 people onboard are reported dead.

The Russian defence ministry said the plane was caught in the crossfire as four Israeli fighters attacked targets in north-western Syria.

Mr Putin said that the Kremlin will look into circumstances surrounding the crash.

He made his remarks several hours after the Russian Defence Ministry put the blame squarely on Israel for "provoking" the incident.

Mr Putin did not voice his grievances against Israel but said he supported the Defence Ministry's statement.

He said Russia will now focus on boosting security for its troops stationed there, saying that these will be "the steps that everyone will notice.

Earlier, a Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu called his Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman, to say Israel was "fully to blame" for the deaths.

"The Israeli pilots were using the Russian aircraft as a shield and pushed it into the line of fire of the Syrian defence," Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

The Russian Defence Ministry said a recovery operation in the Mediterranean Sea was underway and that it had already located the wreckage in the sea and retrieved some bodies and some fragments of the plane.

For several years, Israel and Russia have maintained a special hotline to prevent their air forces from clashing in the skies over Syria. Israeli military officials have previously praised its effectiveness.

Russia has been a key backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad and it has two military bases in the country, including one close to the Mediterranean coast.

Russia's entry into the Syrian civil war in 2015 in support of the Syrian government, after a year of airstrikes by the US and its coalition partners against the Islamic State group, increased the threat of dangerous confrontations in the skies over Syria.

Turkey's troops are also on the ground in northern Syria and are patrolling the skies over the region as Ankara seeks to increase its influence there and curb the expansion of Syrian Kurdish-controlled territory.

Israel has refrained from taking sides in the Syrian civil war. But it has acknowledged carrying out scores of airstrikes against Iran and its Shiite proxy Hezbollah.