The war ceased to be a computer game

On Tuesday, the Turkish Air Force plane shot down a Russian bomber, which fell on the territory of Syria in the province of Latakia. Ankara claims that the aircraft violated the airspace of the country. According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, “there was no violations of the Turkish airspace” - the plane was above the Syrian territory, participating there in the operation against the Islamic State terrorist group. Both pilots managed to catapult, but one of them died. The other was saved, thanks to the operation of special forces of the Syrian and Russian army. The navigator of the Russian bomber was delivered to the Khmeimim air base.

The incident was followed by a tough reaction from Putin. He stated that the plane was shot down by Turkey fighters, and described the actions of the Turkish authorities as a “blow to the back” from “accomplices of terrorists”. In turn, the Turkish side stated that the Russian military aircraft was shot down in the sky over Turkey after it violated its airspace, which was repeatedly warned. On Tuesday evening, an emergency meeting of NATO took place, which adopted the Turkish version. At the same time, most Western leaders, recognizing Turkey’s right to protect their own borders, spoke out for resolving the conflict that plays into the hands of terrorists.

Representatives of the Russian General Staff said that now all Russian bombing of Syrian territory will be carried out under the guise of fighters. In addition, the S-300 missile systems will be transferred to Syria.

The Russian Foreign Ministry recommended that tourists refrain from traveling to Turkey, which, according to the foreign policy, poses no less terrorist threat than Egypt. Already on Wednesday, charters went empty to Turkey - their task is to take Russian citizens from Turkey.

The war ceased to be a computer game for the Russian viewer. She became what she was always: blood, tragedy and the death of real people. The layman, who watched the couch with how our valiant Air Force destroy the nameless terrorists, got the opportunity to understand that this could turn into the death of Russian pilots. However, there is no doubt that the Turkish side is responsible for the death of the Russian Su-24 aircraft. Even if you believe in the version of Ankara that Russian planes violated the Turkish airspace, there was no reason to suspect that they could threaten Turkey, both by direct military blows, and intelligence or something like that. This means that Türkiye took advantage of its right to self -defense, exceeding all the permissible opportunities.

At the same time, it is quite obvious that the Russian side created the prerequisites for such a development of events. From the very beginning of the operation in Syria, Russia acted in such a way as to put those whom it called “partners” for a possible coalition, before the fact. “We begin to bomb those whom we consider necessary. If you have concerns, you can try to agree. If you do not want, let's take a chance and see what happens. ” The Americans and the Israelis quickly understood all the dangers and, gritting their teeth, chose to agree. The Kremlin received its political dividends, but the pilots of these countries were in some safety. Türkiye did not agree and in such a wildly expressed its own displeasure of the actions of Moscow.

The decision to bring down the plane is made at the highest level. Since it is obvious to everyone that there was no real threat to Turkey, it is clearly about a demonstrative act. Now some commentators express the idea that this event was the result of contradictions between the Turkish military and political leadership. But in any case, the decision, I repeat, was made at the highest level.

The Turks were not satisfied with the entire Russian operation, objectively contributing to the strengthening of their main enemy - the Kurds, who in Moscow are considered allies, and in Ankara - terrorists. In addition, Russia has recently stubbornly bombed the Syrian Turkmen, which clearly occupied the pro -Turkish position and in the opposition Assad. It was over their territories that a collision occurred.

The consequences of this incident can be different. It is clear that Russia will not start the war against NATO member. At the same time, there is a fairly wide set of diplomatic steps, which does not exclude the feedback of the Russian ambassador from Ankara or the expulsion of the Turkish ambassador from Moscow. To date, the Kremlin has limited itself to rather soft measures, making an idea not even an ambassador, but to the military attache of Turkey, which looks quite strange. In addition, there is a large range of possible economic sanctions, from actions related to gas supplies to Turkey, and ending with the opportunity to stop the flow of Russian tourists. This will cause serious damage to the Turkish economy, and will also finally destroy the Russian tourist industry.

In this situation, NATO will most likely take an intermediate position, like, "guys, let's live together." And although the right to self -defense was obviously exceeded, it will not condemn Turkey institutionally condemn Turkey.


Photo:
1. Syria. Latakia. November 20, 2015. The pilot of the Russian front-line bomber Su-24M at the Khmeimim airfield before flying to a combat mission. Alexander Elistratov/TASS
2. Syria. November 23, 2015. Application of air strikes by air-space forces of Russia in controlled by IS terrorists objects of production, storage, transportation and oil refining. Shortion from the video. Department of the press service and information of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation/TASS