Russia Protests Turkey's Grounding of Syrian Plane

Russia has strongly objected to the forceful landing by Turkey of a Syrian passenger airplane as endangering the lives of passengers, including Russian citizens.

"We are concerned that in situation the lives and safety of passengers were put into danger, including those of 17 Russian citizens on board," stated Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry official Alexander Lukashevich, reports RIA Novosti.

Turkey grounded the Damascus-bound flight from Moscow in Ankara, saying it had grounds to believe the plane transported weapons for the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

The aircraft was later found to contain no arms shipments and was dismissed.

According to Lukashevich, Russian authorities were not officially informed about the incident by Turkey and had to learn about it from media.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin has cancelled a scheduled visit to Turkey on October 15.

The statement did not specify a reason, but said that the visit will indeed take place following the necessary consultations.