After a long search for the downed Russian pilot of a Su-24 jet fighter shot down near the Syrian border last week, the dead body has finally been recovered and dispatched home for burial.

According to CNN, the body, escorted by the Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Aerospace Forces Commander in Chief Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Bondaver and other members of the military, arrived on Monday at the Chkalovsky military airfield. The pilot identified as Col.Oleg Peshkov will be buried in Lipetsk as requested by the family, who were present when his body arrived.

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The Russian government insists that they did not commit any violation of airspace rules as Turkish officials claim before the plane was shot down. Tension continues to rise between the two countries as NATO is attempting to resolve the issue through diplomatic talk.

US State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau has announced that investigatos say the Russian jet fighter was in the Turkish territory before it was shot down.

Russian authorities have said that the jet was bombing ISIS militants in the area before it was shot down by Turkey. Russia has accused Turkey of protecting the terrorists and their illegal trade in petroleum. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan argued tbat the action was taken to protect Turkish people. He claims the Russian pilot was warned several times before his plane was shot down. Erdogan has vowed to abdicate his seat if Russia can prove that the jet was shot down to protect ISIS.

An investigation is ongoing into the incident that left one pilot dead. A second pilot was rescued. The relationship between Russia and Turkey is getting sour due to the conflict.

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