Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Ankara will not apologise to Russia for shooting down a Su-24 bomber jet.

"I think if there is a party that needs to apologize, it is not us," Erdogan told CNN in an interview.

"Those who violated our airspace are the ones who need to apologize. Our pilots and our armed forces, they simply fulfilled their duties, which consisted of responding to <…> violations of the rules of engagement. I think this is the essence.

The Russian Su-24 Fencer bomber was shot down by two Turkish F-16s Tuesday morning while conducting operations over Syria.

One of the pilots from the downed Su-24 was rescued by the Syrian Army Tuesday morning. The other pilot was killed by fire from the ground after ejecting from the plane. A Russian naval infantry soldier also lost his life after an Mi-8 chopper was downed during a rescue operation.

The Turkish president said that Ankara acted in line with its sovereign right to respond to threats, claiming that the Russian jet had violated Turkish airspace.

However, flight data released by Russian Ministry of Defense shows that the Su-24s never entered Turkey, and were attacked while performing legitimate maneuvers over Syria.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin described the Turkish attack as a "stab in the back" carried out by "accomplices of terrorists."