Russian officials described three main routes by which they said oil and oil products were smuggled from Islamic State territory into Turkey.
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Putin said the Foreign Ministry’s warning for Russians not to visit Turkey was needed “because we can’t exclude some other incidents following what happened yesterday and our citizens in Turkey could be in significant danger”.
President Vladimir Putin said Turkey’s shooting down of a Russian military jet was a war crime and that the Kremlin would punish Ankara with additional sanctions, signalling fallout from the incident would be long-lasting and serious.
“We will not forget this complicity with terrorists”.
The Turkish leader has denied Russian President Vladimir Putin’s earlier claims of Turkey’s involvement in oil trade with the IS, and has pledged to step down if Moscow proves its accusations.
The Turkish and Russian foreign ministers were scheduled to meet on the sidelines of an Organization for Security and Cooperation meeting in the Serbian capital Belgrade on Thursday, the first meeting between senior Turkish officials since the plane’s downing.
“We know who are stuffing pockets in Turkey and letting terrorists prosper from the sale of oil they stole in Syria”.
The latest Russian claims come amid growing tensions between Moscow and Ankara after Turkey last week shot down a Russian warplane it said violated its airspace from Syria, a charge Russia denies. “If the Russians are really concerned about ISIL’s illicit finance efforts, they should take it up with Bashar al-Assad, the person that is relying on the Russians for his continued ability to remain in power”. “For that money the bandits are recruiting mercenaries, buying weapons and staging cruel terror attacks aimed against our citizens, as well as citizens of France, Lebanon, Mali and other countries”.
Erdogan repeated his previous vow to resign if the allegations made by Moscow were proved to be true.
On November 24, Turkey shot down the Russian Su-24 bomber, which it claimed had entered its airspace – an allegation Russia strongly rejects. He accused Turkey of helping IS by buying oil from the group, and said that “terrorists” used Turkish territory to prepare terror attacks against other countries, which he didn’t name.
“Currently talks are suspended”, Russian energy minister Alexander Novak said, quoted by RIA Novosti news agency.
“Let me say it. George Haswani, holder of a Russian passport and a Syrian national, is one of the biggest merchants in this business”, Erdogan said. The Russian pilot was killed by militants after bailing out from the plane and a Russian marine was also killed on a rescue mission to retrieve a second pilot.
“No one gives credit to the lies of the Soviet propaganda machine”, Davutolgu said in Ankara before departing to Azerbaijan.
As British jets opened airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Syria and Germany prepared to send troops and aircraft to the region, Russia’s president called on the world Thursday to brandish “one powerful fist” in the fight against terrorism.
Putin said that given a push to improve relations with Ankara in recent years, Moscow did not understand why its rival in the Syria war had downed its jet.
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Moscow’s Ministry of Defence released satellite images which they claimed show columns of tanker trucks loading with oil at an installation controlled by Isis in Syria, before crossing the border back into Turkey.
