Vladimir Putin says Turkey's shooting down of a Russian jet was a ‘war crime’

President Vladimir Putin said Turkey’s shooting down of a Russian military jet was a war crime and that the Kremlin would punish Ankara with additional sanctions, signalling fallout from the incident would be long-lasting and serious.

Minutes after Putin had finished speaking, his energy minister, Alexander Novak, said Russia was halting talks with Ankara on the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, a symbolic move designed to emphasise the strength of Kremlin anger.

Putin, who made the comments during his annual state-of-the-nation speech to his country’s political elite, said Russia would not forget the November 24 incident and that he continued to regard it as a terrible betrayal.