MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2018) Russia may take steps to prevent further incidents involving the Israeli Air Force jets and has all the capabilities to close the Syrian airspace for Israeli military aircraft, a member of the Russian parliament's upper house's defense committee, Frants Klintsevich, told Sputnik on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry reiterated, during a briefing on circumstances of the September 17 downing of a Russian Il-20 jet in Syria, that the Israeli Air Force was to blame for the incident. According to the ministry, the actions of the Israeli aircraft pilots, which led to the death of 15 Russian servicemen, either lacked professionalism or were an act of criminal negligence.
"The essence and meaning of our response is to completely eliminate the possibility of such incidents in the future. We, for example, have all the necessary resources to completely close the Syrian airspace for Israel, and this is only one of the options," Klintsevich said.
The evidence released by the Russian Defense Ministry on the circumstances of the Il-20 crash left no doubt that the Israeli Air Force was to blame for the tragedy, the lawmaker stressed.
"It is impossible to challenge this conclusion based on an impartial minute-by-minute analysis of the facts," he added.
According to the lawmaker, the list of gross violations of mutual agreements committed by Israeli pilots occupies more than one page and the ministry pointed to each of them.
"How will this tragedy affect Russia's relations with Israel? It is clear that it is up to the leadership [of Russia] how to address this issue, and I can only make assumptions. I think that the decision will be made taking into account the long-standing good relations between Russia and Israel, and therefore a sharp u-turn like the abolition of a visa-free regime, not to mention something more serious, is hardly possible here," Klintsevich said.
In general, the lawmaker believes that much will depend on Israel's reaction to the conclusions of the Russian Defense Ministry.
"In connection with this, I consider the statement of Israeli Defense Minister [Avigdor Lieberman], who said today that the attacks on Syria would continue, to be counter-productive. This rhetoric can only aggravate the situation, I do not think that this development of events meets the interests of Israel," the Russian lawmaker concluded.
The Russian Il-20 military aircraft, which was 22 miles off the Syrian coast, was shot down on September 17, while returning to the Hmeimim airbase. At the same time, four Israeli F-16 aircraft were bombing Syrian targets in the province of Latakia. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Israel notified Russia of the airstrikes only a minute before their start and provided misleading information concerning the area of the attack and the location of Israeli F-16 jets. The ministry said that the Israeli pilots used the Russian aircraft as a shield against Syrian air defense systems. As a result, the Il-20 jet was downed by a missile launched by Syria's S-200 air defense system at 10:03 p.m. local time (19:03 GMT). The incident claimed the lives of 15 Russian servicemen.
During a Sunday briefing, the Russian Defense Ministry presented new data on the incident, which indicated that an Israeli F-16 fighter began to approach the landing Russian Il-20, while this maneuver was perceived by the Syrian air defense as preparations for a new attack. According to the ministry, the pilot of the Israeli jet could not but understand that a Russian aircraft with a more reflective surface would be a preferred target for an anti-aircraft missile.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his readiness to provide Russia with all the information needed to investigate the Il-20 disaster and called for continued coordination of the two countries' forces in Syria. Nevertheless, he laid the responsibility for the downing of the Russian aircraft on Syria.
