Kremlin: Putin won’t meet Israeli air force commander

The Russian President Vladimir Putin will not meet with Israeli Air Force Commander, Major General Amikam Norkin, who is in Moscow to deliver information on the downing of a Russian military aircraft in Syria, the Kremlin has said.

The Israeli army said in a statement that General Norkin presented Russian officials with the findings of a report into the Russian IL-20 aircraft plane which was downed off the Syrian coast of Latakia.

The army statement described the meeting with the Russians as to have taken place “in a favourable atmosphere during which an open dialogue on various issues took place”.

Read: Israel to present findings in Moscow over downing of Russian plane

The Russian defence ministry previously blamed Israel for the downing of Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft which was downed by Syrian government anti-aircraft guns in “friendly fire”. The incident killed 15 Russians on board the airplane.

“As a result of the irresponsible actions of the Israeli military, 15 Russian service personnel perished” Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told Russian state television.

According to the ministry, Israel indirectly caused the incident because at the time of the incident it was attacking targets within Syria and gave Russia a one minute warning.