Moscow said it would continue to bomb targets in Syria close to the Turkish border while insisting it had no intention of escalating hostilities with Turkey following the shooting down of a Russian fighter jet.

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir Putin, said Russia’s air strikes against rebels in northern Syria would “without doubt” continue. “We would prefer the terrorists and militants to keep further away from the Turkish border, but unfortunately they tend to be located on Syrian territory close to the Turkish border,” he said.

Activists reporting for the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Russian warplanes on Wednesday carried out a dozen air strikes in the north of Latakia province where the Russian SU-24 aircraft crashed on Tuesday after being struck by Turkish fighter jets.