Russia suffered the first losses in two months of the air operation in Syria: first, Turkish Air Force fighters shot down a Su-24M bomber in the border area, then an Mi-8 helicopter was destroyed during a clash. Two Russian servicemen were killed. The incident not only aggravated relations between Moscow and Istanbul to the limit, but also became the reason for strengthening the Russian group in Syria with the latest air defense systems. In such a situation, it will be extremely difficult to create a broad coalition against the Islamic radicals operating there, but the Kremlin does not abandon this idea.
The news of the Su-24 crash on the Syrian-Turkish border found Vladimir Putin on November 24 at his residence Bocharov Ruchei, where he was preparing to receive King Abdullah II of Jordan. After the first report of the General Staff, it became clear that the situation was out of the ordinary: the Russian military reported that there was no violation of Turkish airspace (it flew at a distance of 1 km from the country's border), and the Su-24 bomber was shot down over Syrian territory at an altitude about 6 thousand meters with an air-to-air missile. According to "Vlast", based on the importance of the incident, the issue of an emergency meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation was considered, but for its holding it was necessary to quickly gather all the members of the council. It was quite difficult to do this, since only Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was in Sochi, and all other officials were either on a business trip (Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, for example, was on a visit to Egypt), or in Moscow - they could have arrived no earlier than In a few hours. Since it was not possible to cancel the visit of the Jordanian leader, who was already on his way to Bocharov Ruchei, the president decided to make all key statements at the very beginning of the talks.
Vladimir Putin's words that day were unprecedentedly harsh: promising that the downed plane "would have serious consequences for Russian-Turkish relations," he accused Turkey of collaborating with terrorists operating in Syria and Iraq. “Today's loss is connected with the blow that the accomplices of terrorism inflicted in the back. I cannot qualify what happened today in another way,” he said.
Initially, no one wanted to believe in the version of a deliberate attack by Turkish fighters, a senior Vlast source in Russian government agencies admits, but the facts spoke in favor of this particular version. Representatives of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces wanted to contact their Turkish colleagues through military-diplomatic channels, but they did not want to communicate: apparently, they were expecting instructions from the country's political leadership. Representatives of the leadership pointedly and publicly said that the downed plane violated the space of Turkey and their pilots had every right to open fire to kill, especially since the crew of the Russian Su-24M allegedly received ten warnings. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation did not have such information, but the means of their objective control clearly indicated: the bomber was shot down in the airspace of Syria. It was not possible to contact the Turks - none of the numerous attempts was successful, and Turkey, meanwhile, came into contact with the NATO countries. According to Vlast's information, it was this fact that became the last straw, because of which Vladimir Putin allowed himself to speak out, practically not holding back.
The situation was aggravated by the death of the commander of the Su-24, Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Peshkov - he was shot by terrorists in the air, just a few seconds after the ejection from the wrecked plane. Navigator Konstantin Murakhtin miraculously managed to escape: the military say that the captain not only promptly made contact with the Khmeimim airbase, where the Russian air group is stationed, but also hid from pursuing the militants for several hours. As soon as the drones recorded his location, two Mi-8 helicopters with special forces were sent to the area of the Kyzildag mountains. By this time, Murakhtin had already been found by the servicemen of the Syrian government army, the colleagues had only to evacuate him and take him to Khmeimim. However, during the operation, one of the helicopters came under fire and was forced to sit near the Turkmen mountains. A firefight ensued, during which the Marine Alexander Pozynich was fatally wounded in the neck. As a result, one helicopter managed to fly away, while the second, according to the General Staff, was destroyed by mortar fire. All three servicemen were nominated for state awards. Two - Peshkov and Pozynich - got them posthumously.
In addition to these losses, the second month of the Syrian operation was quite successful for Russia: the General Staff reported that in just 48 days the Russian Air Force aircraft flew 2,289 sorties and delivered 4,111 missile and bomb strikes against the main infrastructure, accumulations of military equipment and manpower of militants … Reporting to the President on November 20, Sergei Shoigu said that the main efforts are focused "on undermining the financial and economic base" of the terrorists of the Islamic State banned in Russia. "This ensures the successful operation of Syrian government troops in the regions of Aleppo, Idlib and mountainous Latakia, as well as Palmyra," the minister reported, adding that the number of terrorists arriving in the country is declining. The aviation group, on the contrary, was growing: four Su-27SM3 fighters and eight Su-34 fighters joined the Su-24M and Su-34 bombers in Khmeimim, the Su-25SM attack aircraft, and Su-30SM fighters. In parallel, strikes were also delivered with the help of strategic aviation (Tu-95MS, Tu-160 and Tu-22M3), which are armed with Kh-101 and Kh-555 cruise missiles.
The naval group in the Mediterranean and the Caspian consisted of ten ships. At the same time, on November 20, the Dagestan missile ship and the Uglich, Grad Sviyazhsk and Veliky Ustyug small missile ships launched 18 Caliber-NK cruise missiles at seven targets in the provinces of Raqqa, Idlib and Aleppo. In total, according to Sergei Shoigu, in the period from 17 to 20 November, 101 air and sea-based cruise missiles were launched, as a result of which, taking into account the bombing, it was possible to eliminate 826 enemy targets. According to a Vlast source in the operational military command, the buildup of forces and means to fight terrorists in Syria took place in stages and depending on specific tasks: for example, the shelling of Kalibr missiles from the Caspian Sea was carried out in view of information received from intelligence about their presence in the regions large objects of bandit formations. "They had to be eliminated urgently," he explained, adding that strategic aviation was also involved for the same reason. The increase in the air group in Khmeimim took place to cover the troops of Bashar al-Assad at the time of the attack on the positions of the terrorists.
Despite the general attitude to the fight against the "Islamic State", there are many obstacles to the creation of a broad coalition.
The incident with the Su-24 entailed serious changes in the course of the operation: the next day, the guards missile cruiser Moskva, serving in the Mediterranean group of the Navy, took up a new duty station in the coastal region of Latakia. Moreover, armed with an S-300F Fort anti-aircraft missile system, he was ordered to destroy any air target that poses a potential threat to Russian aircraft. The newest S-400 Triumph air defense systems were deployed in Khmeimim, for which the Syrian operation became the first combat test, and all Russian bombers will have to perform combat missions exclusively under the cover of fighter aircraft. There is an imbalance here: there are only eight Su-30SM and Su-27SM fighters for 24 front-line bombers (12 Su-24M and Su-34 units each). However, according to Vlast's interlocutor, it will be corrected in the near future by redeploying another link of fighters to Syria.
Obviously, these measures are aimed not at fighting the "Islamic State" (they have no aircraft), but at controlling the airspace, in which planes of NATO countries, including Turkey, also fly. The Pentagon did not understand all the measures taken by the Russian Defense Ministry. "Such systems (S-400.-" Vlast ") will further complicate the already difficult situation in the skies over Syria and will not do anything to advance the fight against terrorists," said Lieutenant Colonel Michelle Baldance. A high-ranking military official of the Ministry of Defense briefly commented on this statement to Vlast: "We do not intend to conduct hostilities against the coalition planes, but we will ensure the safety of our aircraft and our people by any available means."
If relations between Russia and Turkey suffer in almost all areas (Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev spoke bluntly last week about the imposition of sanctions against recent friends), then the chances of creating a broad coalition, despite the extremely tense situation, still remain. Speaking on November 26 at the ceremony of presenting credentials to foreign ambassadors, Vladimir Putin said: groups and structures in Syria ". He expressed hope that after the terrorist attacks on board the Russian Airbus A-321 in Egypt and the bombings in France, brutal massacres in Lebanon, Nigeria, Mali "there will be an understanding of the need to unite the efforts of the entire international community in the fight against terror."
Military and diplomatic officials interviewed by Vlast assert that even after the crash of the Su-24M there is a chance of creating a coalition, especially since the leaders of Italy and France support this idea. After a series of terrorist attacks in Paris, President of the Fifth Republic François Hollande even proposed to forget about the differences and "unite the power" of France, Russia and the United States, and in support of his words sent the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle with multipurpose aircraft to the shores of Syria. Vladimir Putin ordered Russian sailors to establish contact with their French colleagues and act "as with allies."
Despite the general disposition to fight the Islamic State, there are many obstacles to creating a broad coalition. For example, according to the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, by November 26, "none of the countries of the anti-ISIS coalition had ever named a single district or facility belonging to terrorists." Until now, Russia and NATO countries disagree on who exactly the strikes are being made on: the West believes that opponents of Bashar al-Assad, and not radical Islamists, are victims of the strikes by Russian planes and missiles. In Moscow, however, this is denied. Fuel was added to the fire by the statement of the NATO leadership regarding the existing confirmation of the Turkish version of the Su-24 crash. And although it was subsequently disavowed, one cannot count on an early stabilization."What the Turks have done is a betrayal, and we do not forget the betrayal, as well as those who cover up these traitors," a high-ranking source in the Kremlin told Vlast.
