PUTIN: Russia 'sees no prospect' of improving ties with Turkey

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he "sees no prospect" of improving relations with the current leadership of
Turkey after it downed a Russian jet bomber last month.

"It is hard for us to reach agreement with the current Turkish leadership, if at all possible," Putin said during his annual news conference. Putin said the downing of the Russian warplane was "an act of enmity" and he did not understand why Turkey did it.

"What have they achieved? Maybe, they thought that we would run away from there (Syria)? But Russia is not such a country."

Putin also reportedly that Turkey "stabbed us in the back with this incident."

#PutinPresser on downed jet: "They stabbed us in the back with this incident"https://t.co/Ct9zV922Sf

— euronews (@euronews) December 17, 2015

The Russian president said he would not ask Turkish leadership to apologize.

#PutinPresser on Turkey-Russia relations: "I will not ask them to apologize, that's their decision..." https://t.co/UO64V12JLr

— euronews (@euronews) December 17, 2015

(Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova and Christian Lowe; writing by Dmitry Solovyov; editing by Polina Devitt)

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