Russia and Turkey have been plunged into their worst crisis since the Cold War over Turkey’s downing of a Russian jet on its border with Syria on November 24 – sparking fury and economic sanctions from the Kremlin.
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“No one has the right to make such a slander as to suggest that Turkey buys Daesh’s oil”.
“What a fantastic family business”, he said, claiming that “terrorists” in Syria made some US$2 billion each year out of the illegal oil trade.
“What a great family business!”
The Russian leader further stressed that Moscow’s anger over the jet downing is directed at particular individuals and not at the Turkish nation. Look what they’re doing.
“Those who were not happy about sanctions imposed against them should not impose sanctions on others”, he said.
President Erdogan denies that Turkey procures oil from anything other than legitimate sources.
Earlier, a representative of the US State Department admitted that illegal oil from Syria has been delivered to the Turkish market.
Given the blatant aggression the Turkish government exhibited towards Russia, Moscow could not, in any respectable way, continue to support some of these projects, hence banning sales of tourism packages to Turkey.
Turkey claims the plane breached its airspace and ignored repeated warnings but Russian Federation insists it never crossed the border from Syria and accused Ankara of a planned provocation.
The Russian defense ministry also alleged that the same criminal networks which were smuggling oil into Turkey were also supplying weapons, equipment and training to Islamic State and other Islamist groups.
“According to reliable intelligence reports, the Turkish side has been taking such actions for a long time and on a regular basis.” he added. “And most importantly, it does not plan to stop them”, Sergei Rudskoy, deputy head of the Russian military’s General Staff, told reporters.
“It’s hard not to notice them”, Rudskoy said of the lines of trucks shown on satellite images.
Thousands of Russian citizens from Chechnya, Dagestan and elsewhere have joined the Islamic State group in Syria.
Moscow disputes that strongly, saying the aircraft was over Syria, where Russian Federation is carrying out an air campaign backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a protracted civil war. “Turkey has certain economic spheres that are disproportionately dependent on Russian patronage, such as the tourism and energy sectors”.
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Viktor Bondarev, commander-in-chief of Russia ” s Aerospace Forces, who presented the Hero of Russian Federation medal to his widow, said he was killed after “a treacherous strike in the back by Turkey’s air force and leadership”.
