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Two Indians among 62 killed in FlyDubai plane crash in Russia

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FlyDubai

Moscow: At least 62 people were killed on Saturday when a passenger jet crashed in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, media reports said.

The Dubai Media Office says those killed in the crash of the FlyDubai airliner in Russia include two Indians.

Flydubai flight FZ981 was en route from Dubai and crashed while trying to land, RT News reported.

Air-traffic control and local emergency services confirmed that the Boeing 737-800 jet crashed near the runway during a second approach in conditions of poor visibility killing all 61 on board — 55 passengers, six crew members.

“During the landing approach a Boeing-737 crashed. It had 55 passengers on board. All of them died,” a regional official told TASS news agency.

CCTV camera footage posted on YouTube claimed to have captured the moment of the explosion as the aircraft impacted the ground. However, its authenticity could not be immediately verified.

Emergency crews have already put out the fire, according to an airport source.

The airport has closed until further notice.

(Agencies)

Syria: Russian PM warns of world war if troops sent in

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Dmitry Medvedev tells German paper proposal to send Arab ground forces to fight ISIL “draws everyone” into war.

Dmitry Medvedev

by Al Jazeera

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has warned that the deployment of foreign ground troops in the Syrian conflict could result in a world war.

Medvedev was quoted as saying in an interview published late on Thursday by the German newspaper Handelsblatt that “a ground operation draws everyone taking part in it into a war”.

When asked about a recent proposal from Saudi Arabia to send in ground troops to Syria, the Russian prime minister answered that “the Americans and our Arab partners must consider whether or not they want a permanent war”.

Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands, reporting from Moscow, said Medvedev’s comments were an explicit warning to the United States and its regional allies, including Saudi Arabia.

“He basically told them to back off on sending troops because if they did, this might result in some sort of interminable or even a world war,” Challands said.

Medvedev also criticised Western powers’ refusal to collaborate with Russia in Syria. The prime minister said ties at the level of defence departments were only sporadic.

US defence chief Ashton Carter, meanwhile, welcomed a commitment from Saudi Arabia to expand its role with ground troops in Syria against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

At a gathering of more than two dozen defence ministers at NATO headquarters, Carter said on Friday key ally the United Arab Emirates agreed to send special forces soldiers to Syria to assist in the development of local Sunni Arab fighters focused on recapturing Raqqa, ISIL’s de facto capital.

Carter declined to say how many Emirati commandos would go to Syria. He said they would be part of an effort led by the US and bolstered by Saudi special forces to train and enable local Arab fighters who are motivated to recapture Raqqa.

Saudi Arabia’s Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri said his country was ready to send troops into Syria if there was a consensus in the anti-ISIL coalition. But he declined to elaborate, saying: “It is too early to talk about such options. Today we are talking at the strategic level.”

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov intends to meet with his Saudi counterpart Adil al-Ahmad al-Jubayr in Munich, Germany on Friday, a Russian news report said.

Vyacheslav Matuzov, a former Russian diplomat, told Al Jazeera that Russia was not fuelling the Syrian conflict, rather it had prevented it from spreading.

Matuzov said he understood that a “cessation of hostilities” pact that world powers had arrived at in Munich on Thursday meant the only solution for the conflict had to be political.

“I think all groups would understand there is no solution but a political solution. Those who do not agree to stop fighting will be enemies, and will be destroyed, as I understand to be the result of Munich,” he said.

NATO chief: Russian airstrikes in Syria undermine peace talks

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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg presents the 2015 NATO annual report during a press conference in Brussels, January 28, 2016. (AFP/Emmanuel Dunand)

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg presents the 2015 NATO annual report during a press conference in Brussels, January 28, 2016. (AFP/Emmanuel Dunand)

by Al Bawaba

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday that Russia’s increase in airstrikes is undermining Syria peace talks in Geneva, Reuters reported.

“The intense Russia airstrikes, mainly targeting opposition groups in Syria, is undermining the efforts to find a political solution to the conflict,” Stoltenberg told Reuters upon arriving for a meeting of EU defense ministers in Amsterdam.

Stoltenberg also defended claims that Russia had again violated airspace in Turkey, a NATO member.

“The increased Russia presence, the air activity in Syria, is also causing increased tensions and violations of Turkish airspace … violations of NATO airspace,” he said. “This creates risks.”

Since Monday, the Syrian army and forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad have made advances in a push to encircle and rout out rebels in the eastern part of Aleppo. The assault has been backed by Russian airstrikes and has also cut off a key supply route to the Turkish border.

UK judge: Putin probably approved Litvinenko killing

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Russia calls 300-page report into the London poisoning of former spy Alexander Litvinenko “biased” and “opaque”.

Alexander Litvinenko died in London in 2006 after drinking tea laced with a radioactive substance [EPA]

Alexander Litvinenko died in London in 2006 after drinking tea laced with a radioactive substance [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

Russian President Vladimir Putin “probably” approved the assassination of ex-KGB agent turned dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London, a British inquiry has found.

In what many analysts saw as a sensational verdict, Judge Robert Owen said on Thursday that it was likely the Russian leader signed off the killing of the former spy in 2006 after a long-running feud.

Owen’s 300-page report said Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun were probably acting under the direction of Moscow’s FSB intelligence service, successor of the KGB, when they poisoned the 43-year-old with radioactive polonium 210 at London’s Millennium Hotel.

Russia’s foreign ministry was swift to respond, dismissing the inquiry as “biased” and “opaque”, according to the official RIA news agency.

“Moscow had no expectation that London’s report on Litvinenko would all of a sudden become impartial,” Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman, said.

The Interfax news agency quoted the accused Lugovoi, who is now a politician, as saying: “This is a poor attempt from London to use a skeleton in the closet to the advantage of their political position.”

Litvinenko, who lived in exile in Britain, died in November 2006 three weeks after drinking green tea laced with poison at the plush hotel.

British police had accused Kovtun and Lugovoi, the two Russians he met for tea, of carrying out the killing. Both denied involvement, and Moscow refused to extradite them.

Singling out Nikolai Patruskev, the head of the FSB at the time, alongside Putin, Owen wrote: “Taking full account of all the evidence and analysis available to me I find that the FSB operation to kill Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr Patrushev and also by President Putin.”

British Interior Minister Theresa May said on Thursday the UK government would freeze the assets of Lugovoi and Kovtun and would summon the Russian ambassador to London to express its “profound displeasure”.

May also told politicians that the conclusion that the Russian state is probably involved in the murder of Litvinenko was “deeply disturbing.” She described it as a “blatant and unacceptable breach of international law and civilised behavior.”

Skin turned yellow

From his deathbed, Litvinenko had told detectives that he believed Putin directly ordered his killing. The Kremlin dismissed the claim as ridiculous at the time and has always vehemently denied any involvement.

The inquiry heard from 62 witnesses over six months of public hearings and – behind closed doors – saw secret intelligence evidence about Litvinenko and his links to UK spy agencies.

Litvinenko’s widow Marina told the inquiry that her husband was a loyal intelligence agent who grew disillusioned with Russia’s 1990s war in Chechnya and by what he saw as corruption within the FSB security service, the successor to the KGB.

Speaking outside the High Court after the verdict, she said she was “very pleased that the words my husband spoke on his deathbed when he accused Mr Putin have been proved by an English court”.

When he became violently ill, Litvinenko’s doctors diagnosed him with a stomach infection. But as his condition worsened, his white blood cell count plummeted, making him susceptible to infection.

“His skin had turned yellow, indicating liver dysfunction, and he was tested for the two most likely causes, hepatitis and AIDS, but neither was the case,” John Emsley wrote in Molecules of Murder, a crime book that includes a chapter on polonium poisoning.

“Then his hair began to fall out.”

A diplomatic low

Doctors eventually decided that he was suffering from radiation poisoning, and further tests identified polonium as the culprit.

Litvinenko’s body was so radioactive that the autopsy was conducted by medics in protective clothing and ventilation hoods. A lawyer for the police said that the killing may have exposed hundreds or even thousands of Londoners to radioactive contamination.

The former secret agent’s death marked a post-Cold War low point in Anglo-Russian relations, and ties have never fully recovered. They were marred further in recent years by disputes over the conflict in Crimea and by Russia’s support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who the UK opposes.

British newspapers said UK Prime Minister David Cameron would chair a meeting of security chiefs before publication of the report to consider what, if any, action Britain should take.

Some analysts believe, though, that it may be in the interests of both Britain and Russia to limit any fallout.

Both are involved in air strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). British diplomats believe Russia is key to ending that country’s civil war, while Russia would like to see an end to sanctions imposed on it by the West over Crimea.

The Soviet-era KGB did not hesitate to kill its enemies on foreign soil, sometimes with obscure poisons. Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov died after he was stabbed with a ricin-tipped umbrella on London’s Waterloo Bridge in 1978.

 

Turkey: Our patience with Russia ‘has a limit’

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Foreign minister says Moscow overreacted when it fired warning shots at a Turkish vessel in the Aegean Sea on Sunday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says Russia has put itself in a 'ridiculous position' [Andrej Cukic/EPA]

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says Russia has put itself in a ‘ridiculous position’ [Andrej Cukic/EPA]

by Al Jazeera

Turkey’s foreign minister has said Ankara’s patience with Russia “has a limit” after Moscow’s “exaggerated” reaction to a naval incident between the two countries, an Italian newspaper reported.

A Russian warship fired warning shots at a Turkish vessel in the Aegean Sea on Sunday to avoid a collision. The Turkish military attache in Moscow was summoned over the incident.

“Ours was only a fishing boat. It seems to me that the reaction of the Russian naval ship was exaggerated,” Mevlut Cavusoglu told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview.

The incident is likely to heighten tensions between the two nations, which are already at odds over Syria, and Turkey’s shooting down of a Russian fighter jet last month.

“Russia and Turkey certainly have to re-establish the relations of trust that we have always had, but our patience has a limit,” the Turkish foreign minister said.

Cavusoglu said Russia had already “put itself in a ridiculous position” with accusations by President Vladimir Putin that Turkey had shot down the jet to protect oil supplies from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“No one believed it,” he said.

He also criticised Russia’s military intervention in Syria, saying it was aimed at propping up the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, not aimed at fighting ISIL.

“Unfortunately Russia is not in Syria to fight terrorists,” he said, adding only eight percent of its air strikes had been aimed at ISIL, while 92 percent were against other groups hostile to Assad.

Cavusoglu also said air strikes were not sufficient to defeat ISIL and soldiers on the ground were necessary, according to the interview.

Erdogan challenges Putin to prove ISIL oil claim

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Turkish president ready to quit if Russian leader can provide evidence Turkey downed warplane to protect oil supplies.

erdogan

by Al Jazeera

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, has said he would be ready to quit office if allegations by his Russian counterpart that Turkey traded oil with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group were proved.

Erdogan’s comments on Monday came after Vladimir Putin accused Turkey of shooting down the Russian Su-24 warplane last week to protect supplies of oil from ISIL to Turkey.

Turkey has already rejected the accusation.

“I will say something very strong here,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by the state-run Anadolu news agency on the sidelines of the UN climate talks near Paris, which Putin is also attending.

“If such a thing is proven, the nobility of our nation would require that I would not stay in office.”

Challenging Putin, who has refused to meet Erdogan after the November 24 incident in Yamadi, in Syria’s Latakia province, Erdogan said: “And I tell Mr Putin: Would you stay in that office? I say this clearly.”

In the interview, Erdogan said: “Let’s remain patient and let’s not act emotionally.”

He maintained that Turkey obtained all its oil and gas imports “through the legal path”.

“We are not dishonest so as to do this kind of exchange with terrorist groups,” he said.

“Everyone needs to know this.”

After the Su-24  was downed by Turkish F-16 fighter jets for alleged violation of Turkish airspace, Putin accused the Turks of being “accomplices of terrorists” and said oil from ISIL territory was being exported through Turkey.

Turkey’s president warns Russia not to ‘play with fire’

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Erdogan condemns reports that Turkish businessmen were detained in Russia as animosity between Cold War rivals grows.

erdogan

by Al Jazeera

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned Russia not to “play with fire” after reports emerged that Turkish businessmen had been detained in Russia.

Moscow said it would suspend visa-free travel with Turkey, and its tourism agency head announced on Friday it will ask more than 9,000 Russians currently in Turkey to return home by the end of December.

Relations between the former Cold War antagonists are at their lowest in recent memory after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border on Tuesday. The pilot was machine-gunned dead by rebels on the ground in Syria as he parachuted down.

Russia has threatened economic retaliation – a response Erdogan has dismissed as emotional and indecorous.

“It is playing with fire to go as far as mistreating our citizens who have gone to Russia,” Erdogan told supporters during a speech in Bayburt in northeast Turkey on Friday.

“We really attach a lot of importance to our relations with Russia … We don’t want these relations to suffer harm in any way.”

Erdogan said he wants to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a climate summit in Paris that starts on Monday. Putin has so far refused to talk to Erdogan because Ankara has not yet apologised for the downing of the jet, a Putin aide said.

Erdogan has said Turkey deserves the apology because its airspace was violated.

The nearly five-year-old Syrian civil war has been complicated by Russian air strikes in defence of President Bashar al-Assad. Turkey and regional powers have accused Russia of targeting moderate armed groups fighting Assad.

The frayed relations could also impact two major planned projects – a TurkStream gas pipeline and the Akkuyu nuclear power plant – between the two countries.

Turkey and Russia have also sparred over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant  (ISIL) group, with each side accusing the other of being soft on “terrorism”.

Russia suspends military cooperation with Turkey

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NATO urges de-escalation of tensions after Turkey angers Russia by shooting down warplane near Syria border.

The Russian warplane was shot down by Turkish air-to-air missile near the Syria border on Tuesday [Reuters]

The Russian warplane was shot down by Turkish air-to-air missile near the Syria border on Tuesday [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Russia’s defence ministry has announced suspension of military cooperation with Turkey and Sergey Lavrov, foreign minister, has cancelled a planned trip to Turkey following the downing of a Russian warplane near the Turkey-Syria border on Tuesday.

The Russian Sukhoi Su-24 warplane was shot down for allegedly violating Turkish airspace, angering Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who compared the incident to being “stabbed in the back”.

Russia also warned its citizens not to travel to Turkey, saying it was unsafe, and deployed a warship to the coastline near where the plane crashed.

The plane crashed in Syrian territory in Latakia’s Yamadi village.

One of the two Russian pilots who ejected from the jet was picked up by the Syrian army and is being taken to Russia’s base there, Russia’s ambassador to France said on Wednesday.

Alexandre Orlov told Europe 1 radio: “One on board was wounded when he parachuted down and killed in a savage way on the ground by the jihadists in the area.

“The other managed to escape and, according to the latest information, has been picked up by the Syrian army and should be going back to the Russian air force base.”

A Russian helicopter was also shot at on Tuesday as it took part in the search for the two pilots near the Turkish-Syrian border, opposition groups in Syria said.

Turkey, Russia and their respective allies have entered a war of words after the incident, raising tensions in a region struggling to cope with the ongoing Syrian conflict.

Putin sharply criticised Turkey for establishing contact with NATO to discuss the incident, prior to contacting Russia.

“Today’s loss is linked to a stab in the back delivered to us by accomplices of terrorists. I cannot qualify what happened today as anything else,” Putin said in televised comments.

“Our plane was shot down over the territory of Syria by an air-to-air missile from a Turkish F-16 jet. It fell in Syrian territory four kilometres from the border with Turkey. Our pilots and our plane did not in any way threaten Turkey.

“Instead of immediately establishing contacts with us, as far as we know Turkey turned to its NATO partners to discuss this incident – as if we had hit their plane and not the other way around,” he said.

Russia has been carrying out air strikes in Syria since September, saying it is targeting ISIL and al-Nusra Front.

The Syrian opposition and Western powers, however, say the Russian strikes have mainly targeted rebel groups fighting the Syrian government – an ally of Russia.

Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey’s prime minister, said Turkey had a duty to act against anyone violating its borders.

“Everyone must know that it is our international right and national duty to take any measure against whoever violates our air or land borders,” he said in Ankara.

“Turkey will not hesitate to take all steps to protect the country’s security.”

While NATO called for the two nations to show restraint, Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance secretary-general, said: “We stand in solidarity with Turkey and support the territorial integrity of our NATO ally.”

The US also backed Turkey’s right to defend its territory.

President Barack Obama said while the US did not have enough information to form conclusions about the incident, similar confrontations could be avoided if Russia stopped attacking “moderate” Syrian rebels who are battling forces loyal to the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

“This points to an ongoing problem with the Russian operations in the sense that they are operating very close to a Turkish border and they are going after moderate opposition that are supported by not only Turkey but a wide range of countries,” Obama said.

Meanwhile, the Syrian government backed its key ally Russia, with a military official telling the state SANA news agency that by shooting down the Russian plane, Turkey had committed “a gross violation of Syrian sovereignty”.

“The desperate acts of aggression will only increase our determination to continue the war against the terrorist organisations with the support and help of Syria’s friends, mainly Russia,” the official said.

A major point of contention is whether the Russian jet crossed into Turkish airspace, with the two nations releasing their own satellite images showing conflicting views of the jet’s final flight path.

A Turkish military statement said the plane violated Turkish airspace in Hatay province and was warned “10 times in five minutes” before being shot down at 9:24am local time.

A US official told Al Jazeera that the penetration of Turkish airspace by the Russian jet lasted “only a matter of seconds” as it crossed a roughly 3km wide section of Turkey that took only 20 seconds to traverse.

Russia, however, vehemently denied that its plane ever crossed into Turkish airspace.

The alleged airspace violation by the Russian warplane, according to Turkish authorities.

Russian warplane shot down near Turkey-Syria border

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Warplane crashes in village in Latakia province in Syria and two pilots seen ejecting from the aircraft.

The alleged violation by the Russian warplane according to Turkish authorities

The alleged violation by the Russian warplane according to Turkish authorities

by Al Jazeera

Turkey says it has shot down a Russian-made warplane on the Syrian border for violating Turkish airspace.

Two Turkish officials told Al Jazeera the plane was shot down on Tuesday by the Turkish military according to the rules of engagement.

Reports said the plane crashed in Syrian territory in Latakia’s Yamadi village.

A Turkish military statement said the plane violated Turkish airspace in Hatay province and was warned “10 times in five minutes”.

“Our two F-16 planes on air patrol duty intervened … on November 24, 2015, 9:24am, according to the rules of engagement,” the statement said.

Rebel forces have told Al Jazeera that bodies of both pilots have been recovered. It is also reported that Russian helicopters were searching for the pilots close to the Turkish-Syrian border.

The Turkish president’s office identified the warplane as Russian-made and said it was warned before being shot down, according to the semi-official Anadolu agency.

The Russian defence ministry acknowledged that an Su-24 fighter jet crashed in Syria as a result of fire from the ground.

The ministry was quoted by TASS Russian News Agency as saying: “A probe is in progress into the circumstances of the Russian plane crash.”

It said the plane had stayed within Syrian airspace and that “objective monitoring data confirm this”.

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman called the downing of the warplane a “very serious incident”, but said it was too early to draw conclusions.

Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Gaziantep, said the fighter jet was shot down near the mountains of Antakya.

“What we know so far is that a plane was shot down on Syria’s border with Turkey, near the mountains of Antakya, which is a scene of a lot of violence of late.

“Witnesses saw two pilots ejecting from the plane.”

Turkey’s Dogan news agency said witnesses reported that the warplane crashed over tents built in Yamadi village and that the pilots bailed out with the help of parachutes.

Ahmed Davutoglu, Turkey’s prime minister, has ordered the foreign ministry to consult NATO, the UN and related countries on the developments, his office said in a statement on Tuesday.

Last month, Davutoglu said Russia had described its warplane’s violation of Turkey’s airspace as a “mistake”.

A Russian aircraft had entered Turkish airspace near the Syrian border, prompting Turkey to scramble two F-16 jets to intercept it and summon Russia’s ambassador in protest.

“The Turkish armed forces are clearly instructed. Even if it is a flying bird it will be intercepted,” Davutoglu had said.

He warned Turkey’s enemies and allies not to infringe on its airspace but he dismissed the notion of tensions with Russia.

More than 200 feared dead in Russian jet crash in Egypt

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Rescue teams locate wreckage of Airbus A-321 belonging to Metrojet which came down in central Sinai Peninsula.

Metrojet's Airbus A-321 is seen in this picture taken in Antalya, Turkey on September 17, 2015 [Kim Philipp Piskol/Reuters]

Metrojet’s Airbus A-321 is seen in this picture taken in Antalya, Turkey on September 17, 2015 [Kim Philipp Piskol/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

A Russian plane carrying more than 200 people has crashed in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Egypt’s civil aviation ministry said.

The statement said search-and-rescue teams found on Saturday the wreckage of the Russian passenger jet in the Hassana area, south of the city of el-Arish, where Egyptian security forces are fighting a local affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

It said the plane took off from Sinai Peninsula’s Sharm el-Sheikh, a popular destination for Russian tourists, and disappeared from radar screens 23 minutes after take-off.

Egyptian search and rescue team members said they heard voices in a section of the plane, an officer on the scene told Reuters news agency.

The black box which contains the flight data was also found at the scene.

“There is another section of the plane with passengers inside that the rescue team is still trying to enter and we hope to find survivors especially after hearing pained voices of people inside,” the officer said.

Separately, Egypt’s top prosecutor ordered an investigation into the cause of the crash, a source at his office said.

Nabil Sadek, the prosecutor general, ordered the formation of a team of prosecutors tasked with going to the site of the crash and investigating the debris.

A centre to help relatives of the passengers has been set up at Pulkovo airport, Tass news agency quoted St Peterburg city officials as saying.

The office of the Eyptian prime minister, Sharif Ismail, earlier confirmed that a Russian airliner with more than 200 people on board had crashed in central Sinai.

The Airbus 321 was at an altitude of 9,450m when it vanished from radar screens, the ministry said in a statement.

Most of the passengers are said to be Russian tourists, according to reports. The plane was operated by the small Russian airline Kogalymavia, based in western Siberia.

The pilot reportedly requested clearance for an emergency landing at Cairo airport due to a technical malfunction.

Plane tracking website Flight Radar said Metrojet flight #7K9268 disappeared over Egypt 23 minutes after departure from Sharm el-Sheikh.

Conflicting reports

The Russian aviation authority Rosaviatsiya said in a statement that flight 7K 9268 left Sharm el-Sheikh at 06:51 Moscow time (03:51 GMT) and had been due into St Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport at 12:10.

The authority said the aircraft failed to make scheduled contact with Cyprus air traffic control 23 minutes after take-off and disappeared from the radar.

A Cyprus Civil Aviation official said Cairo air traffic control notified Cypriot authorities that they had lost contact with a Russian aircraft early on Saturday.

The official said the aircraft’s last contact was with Egyptian Authorities before disappearing.

He said the aircraft did not make contact with Cypriot authorities.

Turkish government spokespersons said they had no information about the missing Russian plane ever entering Turkish airspace.

Security sources in the Sinai Peninsula later confirmed reports that an aircraft was missing.

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