Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Russia there were other places Turkey could get natural gas and other countries that could build its first nuclear plant, in the wake of Russian incursions into Turkish air space during its air campaign in Syria.

Russia should be sensitive to these issues. “We are Russia’s number one natural gas consumer. Losing Turkey would be a serious loss for Russia. If necessary, Turkey can get its natural gas from many different places,” Reuters quotes Erdogan as saying.

If Russia does not build Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, then others will do it, Erdogan said. Russia has invested 3 billion dollars in the project and it should be more concerned about it, Turkey’s President stressed.

A large majority of Russia’s military strikes in Syria have not been aimed at the Islamic State group or jihadists tied to al-Qaida, and have instead targeted the moderate Syrian opposition, the US State Department said on Wednesday.

“Greater than 90% of the strikes that we’ve seen them take to date have not been against Isil or al-Qaida-affiliated terrorists,” said spokesman John Kirby.

Since September 30, Russian aviation has been making air strikes in Syria – ‘at the request of the Syrian government’ and ‘in order to defeat the Islamic State’.