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Putin: US Knew Flight Path Of Downed Russian Jet

Putin: US Knew Flight Path Of Downed Russian Jet

Russian leader Vladimir Putin says America knew the flight path of the Russian jet downed by its ally Turkey.

Mr Putin dismissed as "rubbish" Turkey's claim that it would not have shot down the jet if it had known it was Russian.

The accusations came at a joint news conference on how to defeat Islamic State (IS) with French counterpart Francois Hollande at the Kremlin.

"The American side, which leads the coalition that Turkey belongs to, knew about the location and time of our planes' flights, and we were hit exactly there and at that time," Mr Putin said.

He added that Russian planes were easily identifiable and Turkey was making excuses for its actions.

"They [our planes] have identification signs and these are well visible," Mr Putin said.

"Instead of [...] ensuring this never happens again, we are hearing unintelligible explanations and statements that there is nothing to apologise about."

Meanwhile, Mr Putin and Mr Hollande said their forces will share more intelligence and target strikes only on IS and other jihadi groups.

Russia has previously been accused of also striking at anti-Assad rebels in order to prop up the regime.

"What we agreed, and this is important, is to strike only terrorists and Daesh (Islamic State) and to not strike forces that are fighting terrorism," said the French President.

"We will exchange information about whom to hit and whom not to hit," Mr Hollande added.

Both countries have recently suffered devastating attacks by IS-supporting terrorists.