The Russian Defence Ministry said today one of its warships, the destroyer Smetlivy, was forced to fire warning shots at a Turkish vessel in the Aegean Sea to avoid a collision and that it had summoned the Turkish military attache over the incident.

The Interfax news agency said that the Turkish vessel, which the ministry did not name, had failed to respond to earlier warnings, but sharply changed course after shots were fired before passing within 500 metres of the Russian warship.

A Turkish fighter aircraft downed a Russian bomber earlier this month after Turkey claimed it strayed into its airspace from Syria. One of the two pilots was killed.

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