Turkey shoots Russian plane out of the sky, but Moscow will likely remain focused on ISIS — for now

A Russian jet operating along the border between Syria and Turkey was shot down Tuesday — just the latest confrontation between Russia and the West.

The Turks said the Su-24 ground attack bomber crossed into Turkish airspace and failed to respond to repeated warnings to leave. A Turkish F-16 subsequently shot the plane out of the sky. Meanwhile the Russians say their plane was flying over Syria at the time it was shot down.

President Barack Obama said Turkey had the right to protect its airspace, but the Pentagon urged both sides to de-escalate.

This incident could have broad implications for the larger conflict in Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the strike a "knife in the back."

One of the plane's two pilots was killed and a Russian Marine who was on a mission to rescue the surviving pilot was also killed.

"Essentially, Mr. Putin is saying this is something the Russians weren't interested in," says reporter Charles Maynes in Moscow. "They didn't want to get into any kind of conflict with Turkey or NATO."

As one of 28 members states, Turkey can ask NATO for an emergency meeting if it feels its security is being threatened. NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said he had seen evidence that Russian planes did cross into Turkish airspace, despite warnings.  "Turkey has a right to defend its airspace."

NATO's support was expected, said Mark Urban, the BBC's diplomatic editor. But, he says, some NATO members have got to be asking themselves whether that "was really the wisest thing to do" considering Turkey admitted the Russian plane strayed into Turkish airspace for less than 20 seconds.

Russia President Vladimir Putin criticized Turkey for turning to NATO. Putin said, "instead of immediately making the necessary contact with us, the Turkish side turned to their partners in NATO for talks on this incident," Putin said. "It's as if we shot down the Turkish plane and not they ours."

A lot of people have worried about the risk of so many countries operating with the same mission, but not especially coordinated attacks. The facts about what exactly happened are still coming in, but Maynes says defense experts in Russian and the US knew this was a distinct possibility.

"It's worth pointing out that Russia and NATO have been having these kinds of quasi-skirmishes over the past year," says Maynes. "Russia has been testing out the boundaries of international air space, probing coutures in Eastern Europe, the Baltic and Scandinavia."

Even with the tough words for Turkey, and promises of consequences, Russia has been working with international countries on attacking ISIS. Maynes says they are in constant communication with NATO forces about airstrikes, telling them where they plan to fly and what they plan to hit. For now then, for a number of reasons, Russia is likely to contain its response to words.

"They want to try and link themselves to this wider cause, this anti-ISIS coalition," says Maynes. "And I think it's important for them to stick to that message."