Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Turkey on Thursday of intentionally bringing relations with Russia into a ‘gridlock’ following the incident with the downed Russian bomber in Syria.

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Turkey on Thursday of intentionally bringing relations with Russia into a ‘gridlock’ following the incident with the downed Russian bomber in Syria.

In his speech at the presentation of foreign ambassadors’ letters of credence in the Kremlin, Putin said that the Turkish government has made no steps towards clearing up the situation with Russia after the Tuesday incident at the Syrian-Turkish border. The country has neither offered any compensation nor expressed any apologies over the death of the Russian pilot, thus apparently deliberately dampening relations with Moscow.

“We have still not heard any comprehensible apologies from the Turkish political leaders or any offers to compensate for the damage caused or promises to punish the criminals for their crime,” Russian president stated.

“One gets the impression that the Turkish leaders are deliberately leading Russian-Turkish relations into a gridlock – and we are sorry to see this,” he added.

Vladimir Putin also emphasized that Turkey’s air forces hitting the Russian plane contradicted “common sense and international law [as] the plane was shot down over the Syrian territory,” and once again called the incident “a stab in the back.”

“I have to say that we find absolutely inexplicable the treacherous stabs in our back dealt by those we thought to be our partners and allies in the anti-terrorist struggle,” he said referring to the downing of the Russian bomber by two Turkish fighter jets.

At the same time, the Russian president expressed hope that a broad coalition could still be formed in order to counter the terrorist threat.

“I expect a truly broad international anti-terrorist coalition to be formed that would act in a coordinated manner, as a powerful force and would, in particular, support the actions of the Russian troops that are carrying out successful military operations against terrorist groups in Syria,” Putin said in his speech.

In the meantime, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, accused Turkey of protecting the “armed thugs” that killed the Russian pilot during a news briefing.

“These people Ankara seeks to protect at every possible way including illegal means have nothing to do with civilians. They are armed thugs that shot down the Russian pilot and then desecrated his body,” Zakharova said.

The ministry’s spokeswoman also criticized NATO for not offering its condolences to Russia over the death of the pilot as well as for its attempts to put the blame for the incident on Russia and called it a “shame.”

She added that NATO apparently “pardoned” Turkey’s actions despite them threatening international security.

Zakharova also stressed that Turkey “clearly” is a terrorist accomplice as it downed a plane conducting an anti-terrorist combat mission.

“If someone hit those conducting an operation against terrorists, how can the actions of this side be described otherwise than as actions of terrorist accomplices? – Clearly, there is no other option here,” she said during the briefing.

On Tuesday, a Turkish F-16 fighter jet downed a Russian bomber conducting air strikes against terrorists in Syria. Ankara claimed that the Russian Su-24M combat aircraft crossed the border and remained in Turkish airspace for 17 seconds having being previously warned not to approach 10 times.

Russia denies any violations. It also rejects Turkey’s claims that its military repeatedly warned the pilots of the Russian jet before attacking it.