“We will not forget this aid to terrorists”. “If there is a request to do something we will always be there to offer our assistance…”
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In a reference clearly aimed at the West, Putin said in his annual state of the nation address that countries “should not apply double standards on terror” or use terrorist groups for their own needs.
Russia’s top generals yesterday accused Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, and his family of personal involvement in a multi-million dollar oil-smuggling operation that is funding terrorists from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil).
“The main consumer of oil stolen from legitimate owners in Syria and Iraq is Turkey”. He added Turkey is funding “mercenaries, purchasing weapons, organizing inhuman terrorist attacks directed against our citizens, citizens of France, Lebanon, Mali and other countries”.
Russian Federation has announced wide-ranging sanctions against Turkey because of the 24 November border clash, including an import ban on Turkish fruit, vegetables and some other foods.
“We will not rattle our sabres”.
The Russian leader said: “If they think that after committing heinous war crimes and murdering our people they will get away just with tomatoes and restrictions on construction and other industries, they are deeply mistaken”.
“We will not stop reminding them of what they did and they will not stop regretting their actions”. “And evidently Allah chose to punish the ruling clique in Turkey by depriving them of their intelligence and reason”.
Putin said Monday that he and President Barack Obama have a shared understanding on how to move toward a political settlement in Syria, but added that incidents like the recent downing of a Russian warplane by a Turkish fighter jet stymie broader cooperation against extremism.
“No one gives credit to the lies of the Soviet propaganda machine”, Davutolgu said in Ankara before departing to Azerbaijan.
Video footage showed the plane crashing in a mountainous area in northern Syria. The crossing in Tal Abyad on the Turkish-Syrian border was re-captured from ISIS by Kurdish forces in June.
Russian Federation said it was producing only “part of the evidence” for now and did not provide direct proof of their claim that Mr Erdogan and family were involved.
Putin again called for a unified coalition to fight terrorism, and said it was unacceptable to delineate between different terrorist groups. But speaking during a visit to Qatar, he also said he did not want relations with Moscow to worsen further.
The Turkish premier said it was out of question for Turkey to engage in oil trade with Daesh as he highlighted that the Turkish-Syrian borderline was constantly monitored by the global community.
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While Turkey and Russian Federation continued to wrangle, the body of a pilot killed when the jet was blown out of the sky was buried in his hometown some 360 kilometres south of Moscow.
