Turkey has back-up in case Russian Federation stops supplying gas

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has challenged Putin and said he will step down if Russian claims that Turkey buys oil from Daesh are proved. Ankara also signed agreements with Algeria and Nigeria for supply of 4.4 billion cubic meters and 1.2 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas a year, respectively.

The Vienna talks on Syria crisis settlement should be held with the participation of all Syrian opposition groups, as well as a Damascus delegation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday.

Visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is meeting President Nicos Anastasiades in Nicosia with security across the island on high alert.

Top Defense Ministry officials also accused Erdogan and his family of personally benefiting from the oil trade with the IS, although they didn’t provide any evidence to back the claim.

“We will meet with the Turkish minister of foreign affairs, we will hear what he has to say”, Lavrov said after talks with his Cypriot counterpart in Nicosia.

Russia’s RIA agency said earlier in the day, citing unnamed diplomatic sources, that the meeting would take place in Belgrade today, Reuters reported.

Russian Federation has halted charter flights between the two countries, stopped the sale of package holidays in Turkey and will scrap its visa-free regime for Turkish visitors from the start of 2016.

Turkey said the plane violated its airspace for 17 seconds despite repeated warnings, while Russian Federation has insisted that the aircraft stayed in Syria’s airspace.

Russian Federation has imposed sanctions against Turkish products in retaliation for the downing.

The Turkish strongman accused Moscow of “slander” and has rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demands to apologize over the plane incident, saying that Turkey was acting well within its rights to protect its border.