Russia: Turkey troop deaths could have been avoided

(28 Feb 2020) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that the Turkish soldiers killed in an airstrike in Syria the previous night had "ended up among terrorist band formations."

Lavrov added that if full coordinates of the soldiers' location had been shared, then "such tragedies could have been avoided."

33 Turkish soldiers died in the incident, caused by a Syrian government airstrike in northwestern Syria.  

It was the highest number of Turkish soldiers killed in a single day since Ankara first intervened in the Syrian war in 2016, and marked a serious escalation in the direct conflict between Turkish and Russia-backed Syrian forces.

The attack sharply raised the risk of direct military confrontation between Turkey, a NATO member, and Russia.

Turkey backs the Syrian opposition while Russia supports the Syrian government.



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