Russian warship fires warning shots at Turkish fishing vessel

The Russian Defence Ministry says one of its warships has been forced to fire warning shots at a Turkish fishing vessel in the Aegean Sea to avoid a collision.

The ministry says it has summoned the Turkish military attache over the incident.

The Interfax news agency said that the Turkish vessel failed to respond to earlier warnings from the destroyer Smetlivy and had sharply changed course after shots were fired before passing within 500 metres of the Russian warship.

The incident, which occurred on Sunday morning, is likely to heighten tensions between the two nations who are seriously at odds over Syria and the Turkish shooting down of a Russian military jet last month.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who called the downing of the plane a "stab in the back", has since imposed economic sanctions on Turkey as a retaliatory measure.

Earlier this month, Turkey complained to Russia over an incident in which a Russian sailor was pictured brandishing a rocket launcher on the deck of a naval ship passing through Istanbul.