A handout frame grab taken from a video footage shows
bombs dropped by a Russian warplane during an airstrike in
Syria. EPA/ Russia Defence Mi
Russia open to air strikes in Iraq
MOSCOW, October 6, 2015
Russia will consider extending its air strikes against militants in Syria to Iraq if it receives such a request from Baghdad, the RIA news agency quoted the head of the country's upper chamber of parliament as saying on Tuesday.
The speaker, Valentina Matviyenko, said Russia had so far not received such a request from the Iraqi government.
Meanwhile, the Russian government is looking into an allegation that one of its jets operating in Syria violated Turkish airspace for a second time, the Russian embassy in Ankara said, according to the Tass news agency.
Turkey complained late on Monday that a Russian warplane had violated its airspace on Sunday, the second such breach in three days, prompting Ankara to once again summon Moscow's ambassador.
The first such incursion, on Saturday, prompted the US and Nato to denounce Russia, and Ankara to threaten to respond, raising the prospect of direct confrontation between the former Cold War adversaries.
"The Turkish foreign ministry summoned our ambassador for the second time on Monday," Igor Mityakov, the Russian embassy's press attached, was quoted as saying. "The Turkish side handed over information linked to a violation of its airspace. The Russian side is checking the data," he said.
The Russian defence ministry said the first incursion had been accidental and that a Su-30 jet had entered Turkish airspace "for a few seconds." It said "necessary measures" had been taken to ensure there would be no repeat of the incident.
Moscow said the Syrian airbase from which Russian planes were flying missions, Khmeimim, was located about 30km from the Turkish border and that its aircraft had to approach it from the north in certain weather conditions.
"The incident was the result of unfavourable weather conditions in the area," the ministry said in a statement on Monday, referring to the first incursion. "So there's no need to look for any conspiracy theories here."
Russia has denied another Turkish assertion that one of its planes locked its radar onto two Turkish fighter jets. - Reuters
