One of the two Russian pilots is dead. US and France urge Russia and Turkey to prevent escalation.
ps. On a side note, does Germany actually count as a military force? Because when we're talking about the EU's economic policy, we're basically talking about Germany. But when war is at the gates we always see France as the major European player.
Many Germans aren't particularly fond of our military (seen more as a necessary evil) or deploying it for anything that isn't purely "peacekeeping".
[0] http://www.globalfirepower.com/countries-comparison-detail.a...
Peaceful economic stalwarts have a great deal of capacity to mobilize a military when needed. Just look at Japan.
And the cherry on top is that Syrian rebels have used one of the anti-tank systems the USA gave them against a Russian rescue helicopter searching for the pilots.
But if true, yes, it's certainly a war crime.
Were they, now?
All we seem to know at this point is that "Russia’s military general staff is quoted by Russian news agencies as saying" that (one of) the pilots (not both) were shot down, according to the Guardian. Do you suggest that we take statements attributed Russian military spokespeople at face value?
So, assuming description of the video is accurate -- does that mean they were "shot out of the sky"? From what you've quoted, wouldn't it be more likely to assume that they found the pilots in that condition on the ground?
I'm just looking for something resembling a logical substantiation for the allegation that was made.