EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov over the phone on Wednesday that Russia should join Western powers in the fight against ISIL takfiri group.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov over the phone on Wednesday that Russia should join Western powers in the fight against the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri group.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Mogherini said she offered her condolences for one of the two pilots who was killed after a Russian warplane was downed by Turkey on Tuesday.  

"Mogherini and Lavrov agreed on the need to safeguard the diplomatic track for the Syria crisis opened in Vienna, and to proceed with the agreed timeline decided at the last meeting of the International Syria Support Group, that would constitute the most effective basis for effectively defeating ISIL on the ground," the statement added.

EU officials and NATO called for calm and de-escalation following the incident on Tuesday, underlining that the common target should be ISIL.

"The common enemy should be ISIL," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday after an emergency meeting of the alliance in Brussels.

On Tuesday, two Turkish F-16 fighter jets downed a Russian warplane that was bombing ISIL strongholds in Syria on border with Turkey.