On Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry released photo and video proof that the main smuggling route for oil produced by Islamic State terrorists runs through Turkey, accusing Turkish leadership, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of being involved in the criminal trade. “Besides Russia, Turkey has natural gas agreements with Iran, Azerbaijan, Nigeria, Qatar, and Algeria”, he said, adding that in addition to natural gas, Turkey has oil deals with Iran and Saudi Arabia.
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Reports said Turkey had also discussed buying LNG from the United States and Algeria.
Russia and Turkey have been at loggerheads ever since a Russian fighter jet was downed by Ankara as it allegedly violated its airspace while flying over Syria.
Last year Turkey bought 47.6 bln cubic meters of natural gas overseas, of which Russian Federation supplied about 60 percent via existing gas pipelines going directly from shore to shore in the Black Sea.
Turkish maritime officials started inspecting all Russian ships arriving in Turkey in response to similar move by Russia following the downing of Russian jet, according to the officials.
On Dec. 3, Alexey Miller, CEO of Russian energy company Gazprom, announced that Turkey had not turned to Russia with a proposal about the project, as it was waiting for an intergovernmental agreement between Ankara and Moscow, which resulted in the suspension of the talks. “Turkey will not collapse because of your imports of $1 billion”. Putin continued, saying “we must fight and eliminate them there, away from home”.
“We know who are stuffing pockets in Turkey and letting terrorists prosper from the sale of oil they stole in Syria”, Putin said. It said the ship was believed to be en route to Syria.
The president also lashed out at what he said were Moscow’s attempts to escalate the crisis. “We discussed all issues in a positive atmosphere”.
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Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called for dialogue with Moscow to “narrow our differences” after meeting with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Thursday, in the first high-level contact between the two sides since the plane was shot down.
