Russia Claims Turkey's Erdogan Requested To Meet Vladimir Putin Hours After Downing Su-24 Jet

Russia said Friday that the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had requested to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Nov. 30 in Paris, amid the ongoing feud between the two countries over the downing of a Russian Su-24 warplane over the Syrian border earlier this week. The request came despite reports saying that Moscow is planning to sever economic ties with Turkey, which shot down the Russian plane because it allegedly violated Turkish borders, despite warnings.

"A proposal from the Turkish side about a meeting at the level of heads of state has been delivered to the president," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday, according to Reuters, adding: "That's all I can say."

Peskov also said that Erdogan had called to speak to Putin just eight hours after his country shot down the Su-24 on Tuesday but Putin has not yet responded to the request. Putin and Erdogan are scheduled to attend the global climate summit in Paris on Nov. 30.

The spat between the two countries has intensified since the downing of the plane. Turkey has so far refused to apologize for shooting the plane, citing border violation despite several warning as the reason. Meanwhile, Russia has claimed that it was a deliberate provocation.

“I think if there is a party that needs to apologize, it is not us," Erdogan told CNN in an interview Thursday, adding: "Those who violated our airspace are the ones who need to apologize. Our pilots and our armed forces, they simply fulfilled their duties, which consisted of responding to ... violations of the rules of engagement. I think this is the essence."

Erdogan also said: "We knew there were two aircraft. One aircraft went back into Syria, and the second one was still in Turkish airspace and it was shot down by our aircraft." However, Turkey's claim was contested by Russia, which said that it was "not possible" that the Turkish force did not recognize the plane was Russian.

Russia has also claimed that there were no warnings, via radio or visual. "It did not even come into our mind that we could be struck by a party that we considered to be our ally," Putin reportedly said Thursday in Moscow.

"We considered Turkey to be a friendly country," Putin said. "Turkey is a member of this (U.S.-led) coalition and must know that Russians are working there."

On Thursday, Russia deployed S-400 air defense systems in Syria as a reaction to the jet being downed. Turkey had called the use of such systems an act of aggression.