Turkey has closed its airspace to Russian civilian and military planes flying to Syria, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has been quoted as saying by local media.
“We closed the airspace to Russia’s military planes – and even civilian ones – flying to Syria. They had until April, and we asked in March,” Turkish media quoted Cavusoglu as saying on Saturday.
Cavusoglu said he conveyed the decision to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, who then relayed it to President Vladimir Putin.
“One or two days later, they said: Putin has issued an order, we will not fly any more,” Cavusoglu was quoted as telling Turkish reporters on board his plane to Uruguay.
