Istanbul: The Turkish army on Wednesday released a series of audio recordings of apparent warnings issued to a Russian jet before it was downed near the Syrian border.

‘This is Turkish Air Force speaking on guard. You are approaching Turkish airspace. Change your heading south immediately,’ a voice in one of the recordings can be heard saying in English, repeating the message several times.

The surviving pilot of the Su-24 bomber shot down on Tuesday said earlier that no warning had been given and the aircraft did not violate the Turkish air space, although Turkey insists that it gave 10 warnings in five minutes.

Turkey says its F-16 jets shot down the Russian plane under its rules of engagement, while Moscow says the act was a ‘planned provocation.’

The downing has threatened ties between two major rival players in the Syrian war and raised fears it could escalate into a wider geopolitical conflict.

‘No warning’ before jet shot

‘There was no warning, not by radio exchange nor visually. There was no contact at all,’ navigator Konstantin Murakhtin told Russian journalists at Moscow’s base in Syria on Wednesday after being rescued by special forces.

Dressed in khaki and speaking with his back to the camera, Murakhtin echoed the Kremlin’s version of events, saying that the plane could not have entered Turkish airspace ‘even for one second’.

‘I could perfectly see on the map and on the ground where the border was and where we were,’ Murakhtin said, standing out on the tarmac of the base. ‘We were flying at an altitude of 6000 metres, the weather was clear.’

Murakhtin gave no details of the rescue operation that Russia’s military said involved its special forces working alongside Syrian troops.

‘I feel good in general. The military doctors work miracles,’ he said.

‘I am waiting impatiently to be released by the doctors so I can immediately return to service. I will ask the commanders to keep me at the airbase.’

He added: ‘I have to pay back the debt for my commander.’

Moscow has castigated Turkey for downing the Su-24 plane, which it insisted was in Syrian airspace, while the Turkish side said the jet had flown a little more than a mile into Turkish airspace for 17 seconds.

The US military meanwhile said that Turkish pilots warned the Russian jet 10 times but failed to get a response.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Murakhtin and those involved in the rescue operation will be decorated.

The plane’s other pilot, who died as he was fired at from the ground, will posthumously be given Russia’s highest award for valour, the Hero of Russia medal, Putin said.

Another Russian soldier was killed on Tuesday when his Mi-8 helicopter was ‘damaged by gunfire and had to land’ during an operation to retrieve Su-24’s two pilots, the defence ministry said.