Turkey stabbed Russia in the back Says Putin:

Vladimir Putin has accused Turkey of "stabbing Russia in the back" by shooting down a Russian jet today, writes Roland Oliphant in Moscow.

Speaking during a meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan, the Russian president said the pilots had been "fulfilling their duty" "in the context of the fight against terrorism".

"The loss of our aircraft comes in the context of our fight against terrorism. But today’s loss was a blow in the back by the accomplices of terrorists. I can’t qualify this in any other way. Our plane was downed over Syrian territory by an air-to-air missile from a Turkish F16. It crashed inside Syria, 4km from the Turkish border.

"At the time it was engaged it was at 6,000m altitude and one kilometre from the Turkish border. In any case our pilots never threatened the territory of Turkey. This is obvious."

The president added: "Today's tragic event will have serious consequences for Russian-Turkish relations. We will of course carefully analyse everything that happened."

Meanwhile, Louisa Loveluck reports that rebels from Alwiya al-Ashar, the group that captured the Russian pilots, has told The Times that they shot one from the ground as he tried to steer his parachute to regime held territory.