(CNN) Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called the Turkish downing of a Russian war plane "an enemy act" and rejected international efforts to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Turkish F-16s shot down the Russian Su-24 on November 24. Turkey said the Russian plane was over Turkish airspace and ignored warnings to change course. One of the two Russian pilots was killed.
Putin said Turkey had other options.
"Would it not just have been easier just to pick up the phone?" Putin asked at his annual yearend press conference in Moscow.
'This was a stab in the back'
Putin also appeared to take aim at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkey's Erdogan, left, and Russia's Putin attend a press conference in 2012.
"There is a problem with the Turkish leadership," Putin said.
He criticized Turkish officials for getting in touch with NATO rather than choosing first to talk with Russia.
"Did they think we'd run away?" Putin asked. "No, we're not that kind of country."
On the contrary, Putin said, Russia has increased its aviation presence in Syria. The shootdown was close to the Turkish-Syrian border.
"This was a stab in the back," Putin said. "On interstate level, I do not see the prospect for improving relations."
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Security in Egypt
On another matter, Putin said the decision to block Russian tourists from traveling to Egypt was not taken as a punitive measure.
"The decision to cut Russian tourism to Egypt is not a political one; it is connected with security reasons," Putin said. "When we are sure of the security, we will lift all the restrictions."
A Russian passenger plane crashed over Egypt's Sinai region on October 31, killing all 224 people aboard.
Cult of Putin
While his nation waded deeper into the Syrian civil war, Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, spent his 63rd birthday on the ice Wednesday, October 7, playing hockey with NHL stars and various Russian officials and tycoons in Sochi. For years, Russia's leader has cultivated a populist image in the Russian media.
Putin holds a cat as he inspects housing built for victims of wildfires in the village of Krasnopolye, in a region in southeastern Siberia, Russia, on Friday, September 4.
Putin, left, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev jokingly toast at a lunch during a meeting at the Black Sea resort in Sochi, Russia, on Sunday, August 30.
Putin exercises during his meeting with Medvedev on August 30.
Putin sits in a bathyscaphe as it plunges into the Black Sea along the coast of Sevastopol, Crimea, on Tuesday, August 18. Putin went underwater to see the wreckage of an ancient merchant ship that was found in the end of May.
Putin holds a Persian leopard cub in February 2014 at a breeding and rehabilitation center in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Perhaps the most important vote in Russia's public selection of a new Olympic mascot was cast when Putin said he wanted a funky leopard to represent the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.
Putin holds a pike he caught in the Siberian Tuva region of Russia on July 20, 2013.
Putin enjoys some fishing during his vacation to the Tuva region on July 20, 2013.
Putin submerges on board Sea Explorer 5 bathyscaphe near the isle of Gogland in the Gulf of Finland on July 15, 2013.
Putin studies a crane during an experiment called Flight of Hope on September 5, 2012, in which he piloted a hang glider, aiming to lead the birds into flight. It's part of a project to save the rare species of crane.
Putin takes part in a training session for young ice hockey players before the "Golden Puck" youth tournament final in Moscow on April 15, 2011.
Putin rides a Harley-Davidson to an international biker convention in southern Ukraine on July 14, 2010.
The Russian president aims at a whale with an arbalest (crossbow) to take a piece of its skin for analysis at Olga Bay on August 25, 2010.
A wetsuit-clad Putin embarks on a dive to an underwater archaeological site at Phanagoria on the Taman Peninsula on August 10, 2011.
Famed for his love of martial arts, Putin throws a competitor in a judo session at an athletics school in St. Petersburg on December 18, 2009.
Putin during his vacation in southern Siberia on August 3, 2009.
Putin swims the butterfly during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in southern Siberia on August 3, 2009.
Assisted by a Russian scientist, Putin fixes a satellite transmitter to a tiger during his visit to the Ussuriysky forest reserve of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the Far East on August 31, 2008.
Putin carries a hunting rifle in the Republic of Tuva on September 3, 2007.
A shirtless Putin fishing in the headwaters of the Yenisei River in the Republic of Tuva on August 13, 2007.
Putin in the cockpit of a Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bomber jet at a military airport on August 16, 2005, before his supersonic flight.
Egyptian authorities say the plane was not brought down by terrorism. But many foreign governments -- Russia's included -- believe a bomb was smuggled aboard the plane at its point of departure, the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Putin said at his press conference that Egypt was currently unable to cope with the threat of terrorism.
"As soon as all mechanisms are in place to protect our citizens then we can continue tourism," Putin said. "Our representatives should be on the ground to oversee the landing, taking off, etc."
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Putin: Only the Syrian people can decide
He also rejected international efforts to bring an end to the Assad regime in Syria.
Many Western leaders have said that Assad, who is blamed for the deaths of tens of thousands of his citizens, cannot be part of Syria's future.
The Syrian people should decide the future of Bashar al-Assad, Putin says.
But Putin said he would never agree to outsiders determining Syria's political future.
"Only the Syrian people can determine who should govern them and under what standards, what rules," Putin said.
Putin declined to comment on the U.S. presidential campaign.
"Whoever it is, we are ready and we want to develop our relations with the United States," he said. "We are going to work with any president the American people vote for."
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