Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he is saddened by the downing of a Russian combat jet by Turkish forces near the Syrian border on Tuesday.

Erdogan’s remarks come as Turkey warned its citizens against non-essential travel to Russia.

Yesterday Russia suspended its visa-free arrangement with Turkey and warned that it plans to introduce a wide range of economic sanctions.

Erdogan said he wished the incident had not happened and hoped it would not happen again.

He has so far refused to apologise to Russia, accusing Moscow of playing with fire in its Syria operations.