Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
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Moscow, SANA- The Russian Defense Ministry warned on Thursday that developments on the Turkish-Syrian border give serious grounds to suspect that Ankara is planning a military invasion in Syria.
RT website quoted Major General Igor Konashenkov, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman as saying that “We have serious grounds to suspect intensive preparations by Turkey for a military invasion on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic”.
“We are recording more and more signs of concealed preparations by the Turkish military,” he added.
The spokesman recalled that Moscow had previously provided the international community with irrefutable video evidence of Turkish artillery firing on Syrian populated areas north of Lattakia Province.
“We are surprised that the talkative representatives of the Pentagon, NATO and numerous organizations allegedly protecting human rights in Syria, despite our call to respond to these actions, still remain silent after publishing these videos,” he said.
Turkey is trying to conceal its illegal military activity on the border with Syria and has canceled an agreed Russian observation flight over its territory because of that, Konashenkov said.
The earlier agreed observation flight over Turkish territory was canceled on February 3, after Russian experts revealed the route, which would have included airfields and areas near the Turkish-Syrian border.
The violation of the Open Skies Treaty by Ankara won’t go without a proper response from Moscow, he said.
Russia still hasn’t received any data from Turkey concerning the alleged incident with the Russian warplane, which Ankara accused of violating its airspace, Konashenkov said.
“No materials were passed to us by either military or diplomatic channels,” he stressed, pointing out that it is not the first false accusation directed by Ankara to Russian aircrafts in Syria.
The spokesman said that false statements from the Turkish side “once again confirm that the whole story of the alleged violation of Turkish airspace was made up and is a poorly-orchestrated provocation.”
Manar al-Frieh/Manal
