Russian defense agency sent ammunition: PM

ANKARA

‘The Russian arms exporting agency was the sender,’ PM Erdoğan (R) says speaking alongside Kazakh President Nazarbayev in Ankara. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that that the Syrian passenger plane forced to land in Ankara Oct. 10 was carrying banned ammunition, and named a Russian agency as sending the material to Syria.

“Russian arms exporting agency was the sender and the receiver was the Syrian Defense Ministry. The material has been confiscated and is being examined,” Erdoğan said, speaking at a joint press conference following talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

“Carrying such materials through our airspace is against international rules,” Erdoğan said, adding that on passenger flights it is even banned to carry a large number of jackknifes. “However, in this situation, this rule has unfortunately been violated.”

Erdoğan ruled out claims that the postponement of a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s scheduled for Oct. 14-15 was somehow related to the issue, saying that during a telephone conversation earlier this week the two leaders jointly decided to postpone the visit.