Concerns are growing that Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane on Tuesday in an area near its border with war-torn Syria may lead to a widening of conflict.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the downing "a stab in the back from accomplices of terrorists," warning of "serious consequences for Russian-Turkish relations."
The two sides hold different views over an array of facts on the incident, and the following is a brief account of such views:
Q: Did Russian warplane enter Turkish air space?
The Turkish military said the Su-24 had been warned 10 times in five minutes about its violation of Turkish airspace, before two Turkish F-16 jets "interfered."
The latest statement released by the Russian Defense Ministry said that the Su-24 was shot down while returning to Syria's Hmeimim airbase, where a Russian airforce group for anti-terrorist strikes is located.
"During all of the flight the plane was over Syrian territory. This has been recorded by objective means of control," Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed Russian Defense Ministry official as saying.
According to a Reuters report, the United States said the explosion of the Russian jet took place in Syrian airspace.
Q: Was Turkey well aware the targeted warplane belonged to Russia?
According to comments by the Turkish side, it was not aware the targeted Su-24 belonged to Russia when the F-16 jets opened fire on the warplane.
As a matter of fact, Turkish-Russian ties have been strained ever since Moscow started bombing the Islamic State (IS) targets inside Syria in late September, which Ankara described as operations mainly in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Ankara has been pushing for al-Assad's ouster since Syria was plunged into chaos in March 2011.
Moscow's involvement in the Syrian conflict had resulted in what Turkey called repeated breaches of its airspace by Russian planes, an allegation Russia vehemently denied.
Q: Were the two pilots killed?
Russia's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday said preliminary data showed one of the two pilots ejected from the downed warplane was killed by ground fire as he parachuted to ground in Syria.
Sergei Rutskoy, chief of the Russian General Staff Main Operations Directorate, also confirmed that one Russian marine was killed during the rescue operation.
However, the search and rescue operation for the Su-24 pilots will continue, he added.
Meanwhile, the Turkish side said the two pilots who auto-ejected themselves are still alive, but in the hands of rebel groups in the area, local Daily News reported.
The Turkish National Intelligence Organization is in contact with the rebel groups to press for a handover of the pilots to Turkey, the report quoted Turkey's security sources as saying.
There were also reports that Turkmen rebels claimed they shot dead the Russian pilots after they were ejected from the jet on parachutes.
Q: Any risk of conflict between Russia and Turkey?
The downing of a Russian jet came at a critical time when Moscow is seen more as a potential partner in the ongoing battle against the IS in the West, in particular the United States and France, in the aftermath of a spate of terror attacks by the extremist group on Russian, Lebanese and French targets.
If Moscow opts to retaliate militarily, Washington and its European allies are bound to come to the rescue of Turkey, a NATO member state, a worst-case scenario Washington and its partners are unwilling to see.
Many sides have called for restraint in the wake of the incident, while analysts believed it is unlikely to spill into a major conflict between the two sides.
Turkey and Russia went to wars with each other many times over a period of some 200 years, but have enjoyed a rather smooth relationship for almost a hundred years now.
The two countries' total trade volume has long exceeded 50 billion U.S. dollars, and Turkey gets 75 percent of its natural gas needed at home from Russia.
Mesut Hakki Casin from Ozyegin University of Turkey said the episode should be discussed in the UN Security Council. "What is important here is the fact that Turkey and Russia are not enemies," he said.
