Moscow alleges Turkey shot down plane to protect oil trade with ISIS

Russian Federation went on the offensive during a Defense Ministry media briefing Wednesday alleging that top Turkish leaders, including the president, are involved in illegal oil trade tied to the Islamic State group, RFE/RL reported.

Russian Federation claims Turkey shot down its plane to protect what President Vladimir Putin has described as Turkish profiteering from the IS oil trade.

No proof was made though to substantiate the claim of the direct involvement of Erdogan and his family.

“We have received additional data that confirms [ISIL] oil… enters the territory of Turkey”, Putin said.

“In the West, no one has asked questions about the fact that the Turkish president’s son heads one of the biggest energy companies, or that his son-in-law has been appointed energy minister”.

“What a marvelous family business!” said Antonov sarcastically.

Obama, who took a conciliatory tone in a meeting on Monday with Putin, said Tuesday he believed Moscow would soon realise that the cost of its military intervention in support of Assad outweighed the benefits.

Russian Defense MinistryDefense ministry officials sit under screens with satellite images on display during a briefing in Moscow, Russia, Dec. 2, 2015.

Mr Davutoglu said: “It is not possible to cover up the violation of the Turkish airspace with unfounded accusations against Turkey”. Both Russia and the United States see Turkey as the ultimate in order to resolve the conflict in Syria, so Turkey has to be on board for it all to work out.

But hopes of the de-escalation called for by Mr Obama suffered a setback when Russian Federation officially announced a list of sanctions to be imposed on Turkey and sources said Moscow might also freeze work on a gas pipeline project. “After Russia launched the antiterrorist operation in Syria, their income dropped to 1.5 million a day”, the official added. The Islamic State steals oil from Syria and Iraq and all of these oil transportation routes come to Turkey.

Over the past few years, the Turkish government has been accused of supporting several rebels groups in Syria who seek to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad. After Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks and shooting down a Russian passenger jet in Egypt, Obama had sought to turn the outrage across Europe into newfound resolve for stepping up the fight against Islamic State.

“We know the price of Erdogan’s words”, Antonov continued, in response to the Turkish president’s denial and promise to resign if it were proved true. “We will continue to provide more evidence to show how Turkey is plundering its neighbors”, he promised.

“We will not be evading this contact”, Lavrov said during a visit to Cyprus.