Russia and Turkey have in recent days traded allegations that they are involved in the illegal trade, further ratcheting up tensions after Turkish jets downed a Russian bomber on the Syrian border.
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Both Russia and Turkey have been involved in military operations in Syria as a civil war rages between President Bashar al-Assad, rebels hoping to depose him and the Islamic State, otherwise known as ISIS.
Russian state media have reported on suspicions that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered the downing of the Su-24 plane to retaliate for Russian bombing of tankers transporting oil stolen by ISIS to Turkey – an illicit trade which Russia’s deputy defense minister this week alleged involves Erdogan and his family.
President Vladimir Putin attacked Turkey first and foremost before discussing issues concerning Russian Federation in his Annual Presidential Address on Thursday.
Defence ministry officials sit under screens with satellite images on display during a briefing in Moscow, Russia, December 2, 2015.
He added: “And evidently Allah chose to punish the ruling clique in Turkey, by depriving it of any reason or logic”.
Putin once again accused Erdogan of cooperating with Daesh and stressed that Russian Federation “will not forget this aid to terrorists”.
Following Monday’s meeting with President Barack Obama on the sidelines of a climate summit in Paris, Putin said they have a shared understanding on how to move toward a political settlement in Syria and discussed efforts to compile a list of extremist groups and another one of members of legitimate political opposition.
Meanwhile, Russia has also said that its airstrikes in Syria since late September had destroyed 32 oil processing complexes, 11 oil refineries, 23 oil pumping stations and 1,080 oil tank trucks. One of the two Russian pilots was killed.
He repeated a promise to resign if the claims were proven true.
Mr Putin’s view is shared by Muslim ally, the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who said on social media: “Turkey is not fighting ISIS!”
“In the Cold War period, there was a Soviet propaganda machine”.
Turkey has strongly rejected Russian allegations it has any links with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
As the foreign ministers of Russian Federation and Turkey met on Thursday in Belgrade in an attempt to start mending the economic relationship between their countries, the war of words between the two sides continued.
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“They were called Pravda lies”, he said, referring to the daily newspaper that was the mouthpiece of the Communist Party.
