Russia to deploy air defences to Syria base raising threat of conflict with NATO

In a move raising the potential threat of a Russia-NATO conflict, Russia says it will deploy long-range air defence missiles to its base in Syria and destroy any target that may threaten its warplanes after the downing of its military jet by Turkey.

Meanwhile, the Turkish army yesterday released a series of audio recordings of apparent warnings issued to a Russian jet before it was downed near the Syrian border.

“This is Turkish Air Force speaking on guard.

"You are approaching Turkish airspace.

"Change your heading south immediately,” a voice in one of the recordings can be heard saying in English, repeating the message several times.

The surviving pilot of the Su-24 bomber shot down on Tuesday said earlier that no warning had been given and the aircraft did not violate the Turkish air space, although Turkey insists that it gave 10 warnings in five minutes.

The S-400 missiles, which Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered to be sent to the Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia just 50km from the border with Turkey, are capable of striking targets within a 400km range with deadly precision.

The military also moved the navy missile cruiser Moskva closer to the shore to help protect Russian warplanes with its long-range Fort air defence system.

“It will be ready to destroy any aerial target posing a potential danger to our aircraft,” Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting with military officials.

He added that from now on Russian bombers will always be escorted by fighters on combat missions over Syria, and announced the severance of all military ties with Turkey.

In a sign of escalating tensions, protesters in Moscow hurled eggs and stones at the Turkish Embassy, breaking windows in the compound.

Police cleared the area and made some arrests shortly after the protest began.

Speaking at an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation economy meeting in Istanbul, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey favours “peace, dialogue and diplomacy”.

He defended the shooting down of the plane saying: “No one should expect Turkey to stay silent to border violations or the violation of its rights.”

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said the Turkish action was a “planned provocation” and rejected his Turkish counterpart’s proposal to meet at the sidelines of some international forum in the coming days to try to ease tensions.

The downing of the plane came as French president François Hollande was visiting Washington prior to a trip to Moscow set for today to narrow the rift between the West and Russia and agree joint action against Islamic State.

“On NATO’s side, I think there is a strong desire not to jeopardize the diplomatic mission of President Hollande,” Bruno Lete, a senior analyst at the German Marshall Fund in Brussels.

Lavrov accused Turkey of helping IS by buying oil from it, and said “terrorists” used the Turkish territory to prepare terror attacks against other countries, which he didn’t name.