Bulgarian ambassador to Turkey, Nadezhda Neynski, said on Wednesday that the worsening of relations between Russia and Turkey could lead to an increase in the refugee wave.

In an interview for private NOVA TV, Neynski commented the downing of the Russian Su-24 warplane by Turkish fighter jets near the Turkish-Syrian border on Tuesday.

Ankara claims that the Russian aircraft was brought down after it had violated Turkish airspace and had been issued with ten warnings.

Moscow maintains that the airplane was in Syrian airspace, with Russian President Vladimir Putin saying that the incident will have a negative consequence on the relations between Moscow and Ankara.

A visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Ankara had been scheduled to take place on Wednesday, but was cancelled after the incident.

According to Neynski, the two countries should continue the dialogue as a military conflict was definitely not a solution.

In her words, two forthcoming events will determine to some extent the development of relations.

One of these events is the meeting of the Heads of State or Government of the EU member states with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, which is scheduled to take place in Brussels on Sunday.

The other event is the scheduled visit of Turkish President Recep Erdogan to Moscow on December 15, where he is expected to hold talks on all issues concerning Syria as well as developments in the field of energy.

Neynski added that it was important to see what will happen in this twenty-day period and whether the visit of Erdogan to Russia will take place.

According to her, it is apparent that the two sides should move towards reconciling their positions as well as to establish what exactly had taken place near the border.

This should be pursued both at direct talks between Russia and Turkey as well as the level of NATO-Russia.

In her words, the differences in the stances of the two countries and the tension were indirect causes of the incident.

Neynski reminded that Turkey had repeatedly claimed that military operations could cause a refugee wave and worsen the humanitarian situation.

According to her, these were some of the risks for Bulgaria, with economic consequences also likely to affect the country.