MOSCOW: Russia's Defence Ministry on Friday publicly opened the black box of a warplane shot down by Turkey last month, a step it hopes will help confirm its assertions that the jet did not stray into Turkish air space and was maliciously downed.
The incident, which occurred on Nov. 24, has prompted Moscow to impose retaliatory economic sanctions on Turkey and has triggered a furious response from President Vladimir Putin who has repeatedly accused Ankara of "stabbing Russia in the back".
Turkey says the SU-24 fighter-bomber, part of Russia's Syria-based strike force, strayed into its airspace and ignored repeated warnings to leave. Russia says the plane did not leave Syria and posed no threat to Turkey.
Russian experts opened the plane's orange flight recorder on Friday in Moscow in front of reporters and diplomats.
Officials said experts would try to analyze its contents over the weekend with the aid of special equipment before presenting their findings on Monday.(Reuters)