MOSCOW/ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday expressed “sadness” over Turkey’s downing of a Russian warplane that has severely strained relations, saying he wished the incident had never happened. Meanwhile, Moscow slapped sanctions on Ankara as the war of words over the warplane escalated. In his most conciliatory comments yet after Tuesday’s incident, Erdogan said: “I’m really saddened by the incident. We wish it had never happened, but it happened. I hope something like this doesn’t happen again. “We hope that the issue between us and Russia does not escalate any further, become corrosive and have dire consequences in the future,” Erdogan told supporters in western Balikesir province. Erdogan also renewed a call to Russian President Vladimir Putin for a face-to-face meeting in Paris on the sidelines of the Global Climate Summit on Monday, saying it would be an opportunity to restore relations. “What we tell Russia is ‘Let’s resolve this issue between ourselves and within its boundaries. Let’s not make others happy by destroying our whole relationship,” Erdogan said. “Russia is important for Turkey as much as Turkey is important for Russia. Both countries cannot afford to give up on each other.” Putin, who has branded the incident a “stab in the back”, is yet to agree to talks. The plane incident, one of the most serious clashes between a NATO member and Russia, has drawn a harsh response from Moscow. Russia announced it was halting a visa-free regime for Turkish visitors, after threatening a raft of retaliatory economic measures to punish the NATO member state. Earlier Saturday, Turkish foreign ministry warned its citizens off non-urgent and unnecessary travel to Russia. Turkey says the Su-24 warplane strayed into its airspace and ignored repeated warnings, but Russia has insisted it did not cross the border from Syria and demanded an apology. Moscow slapped sanctions on Ankara, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warning Russia not to “play with fire”. Russia announced it was halting a visa-free regime for Turkish visitors, after threatening a raft of retaliatory economic measures to punish the Nato member state. Tuesday’s incident has sent recriminations flying between two rival players in the Syrian war just as countries such as France are pushing for a broader coalition to try to defeat the militant Islamic State (IS) group. “We advise Russia not to play with fire,” Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara, lashing out at Russia’s response to the downing as well as its support of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Erdogan nevertheless said he wanted a direct meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin when the two leaders are in Paris next week for the UN climate summit. But Moscow responded coolly, saying Turkey has yet to apologise for shooting down the jet near the Syrian border. Turkey says the Su-24 warplane strayed into its airspace and ignored repeated warnings but Russia insists it did not cross from Syria. It is thought to be the first downing of a Russian plane by a Nato member in more than half a century. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Turkey had “crossed the line of what is acceptable” and warned the incident could severely undermine both its national and regional interests. Moscow has ruled out any military response, but has pledged broad measures targeting entire sectors of the Turkish economy including tourism, agriculture and possibly key energy projects. Lavrov said Turkish nationals would require visas from January 1, after Putin this week warned citizens not to travel to Turkey — a hugely popular destination for Russians. “Russia is quite concerned with increasing terrorist threats in the Republic of Turkey,” Lavrov added, after a spate of bloody attacks blamed on IS extremists there. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday gave ministers two days to work out a plan to curb cooperation with Turkish companies after Russia said it would tighten checks on food imports over alleged safety standard violations. Moscow has also hinted the reprisals could hit two major projects with Turkey — a planned gas pipeline and a nuclear power plant.