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Turkey Releases Recording Of Warnings To Russian Plane

Turkey says audio from the cockpit supports its position that Turkish pilots repeatedly warned a Russian military plane that it was violating Turkish airspace before shooting it down.

Dalia Mortada reports for NPR that the surviving Russian pilot continues to deny the signal.

Turkey says it warned the Russian Su-24 fighter jet 10 times before Turkish F-16s shot it down on Tuesday, but Russia maintains the jet was flying over Syria at the time.

As we reported Wednesday, both Russian crew members appeared to eject from the jet and parachute to the ground, but one was reportedly found dead Tuesday by a Syrian rebel group.

According to the Associated Press, the recordings were difficult to understand.

"Most of the audio is garbled and barely comprehensible but the tone of the voice gets more agitated as the warnings appear to go unnoticed.

"The audio that was released only involved Turkish warnings, no replies by a Russian pilot. It was not clear if Turkey had received any replies from the Russian pilots but did not release them, or if the Russian pilots never replied to the warnings or if the Russians never even heard the warnings."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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