Russian Federation accuses Turkey’s Erdogan over IS oil trade

“The main consumer of this oil stolen from its legitimate owners Syria and Iraq is Turkey”, deputy defence minister Anatoly Antonov told journalists at a packed briefing.

The two countries have been locked in a furious war of words over Turkey’s downing of a Russian plane along its border with Syria on 24 November.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday vowed never to forget Turkey’s downing of one of Moscow’s warplanes, as he lashed out once again at the leadership in Ankara over the incident.

The Turkish president replied to the accusations by saying that “no one can slander Turkey on the purchase of oil from the terrorist organization Daesh”, i.e. ISIS.

Russian military officials have released satellite images that purport to show lines of tankers being loaded with oil at ISIS-controlled locations in Syria and Iraq, before crossing into Turkey.

He repeated a promise to step down in the event the claims were proven accurate, but added he didn’t wish to find out connections with Russian Federation worsen. (For an assessment of these claims, read this.) Assad, Putin’s ally in the Syrian civil war, has also been accused of buying oil from the Islamic State, a group that his forces are ostensibly fighting. “Let those in Turkey know it who shot our pilots in the back, who hypocritically tries to justify themselves and their actions and cover up the crimes of terrorists”, he said.

The officials did not specify what direct evidence they had of the involvement of Erdogan and his family, an allegation that the Turkish president has vehemently denied. More evidence is to be published on the ministry’s website in the coming says, Rudskoy said. He said the Russian air raids have destroyed 32 oil production facilities, 11 refineries and 1,080 oil trucks since they began on September 30. “Turkey resells this oil”, Antonov said at a Defense Ministry briefing in Moscow.

Putin has already ordered economic sanctions against Turkey, banning imports of some Turkish goods.

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his annual state of the nation address at the Kremlin in Moscow on Thursday. “Asked which side Greece should take, as a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member, the minister said – “the truth”.

During the brifing, the ministry has space surveillance photographs demonstrating that Daesh now transports up to 200,000 barrels of oil for processing to third-party countries including Turkey.