Putin calls Turkey's downing of Russian warplane a "stab in the back"

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Excerpt Bloomberg bloomberg.com

“We understand that everyone has their own interests but we won’t allow such crimes to take place,” Putin said at talks Tuesday with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Sochi. “We received a stab in the back from accomplices of terrorism.”…

Russia always viewed Turkey as a friendly state, though “instead of immediately making the necessary contact with us, the Turkish side turned to their partners in NATO for talks on this incident,” Putin said. “It’s as if we shot down the Turkish plane and not they ours. Do they want to put NATO at the service of Islamic State?”

The downed jet had been conducting “preventative strikes against terrorists,” including those from Russia who “could at any time return” to the country, Putin said.

Putin also accused Turkey of helping to fund Islamic State. Russia has long established that large quantities of oil are entering Turkey from Islamic State-controlled areas, providing a huge flow of money to terrorists, he said.

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