Turkey has challenged Russia to prove its claim that Ankara shot down a Russian plane in order to protect its oil trade with Islamic State (IS), the BBC reports.
“If you allege something you should prove it,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
He was responding to the accusation by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also said last week’s downing of the plane was a “huge mistake”.
The Turkish government has refused to apologise for the incident.
One Russian pilot was killed and the other rescued after Russia’s Su-24 bomber was shot down by a Turkish F-16 fighter on the Syrian border on 24 November.
Turkey has denied any ties to IS and is part of a US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against the militant group.
