More punitive measures by Russia against Turkey are coming, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned in his annual address Thursday to his country’s Federal Assembly.
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“We have not met”, confirmed Putin, and then said Russia had received additional data about the incident with the Russian Su-24, which he claimed proved that the protection of the Syrian Turkmens is just an excuse for Turkey.
Earlier, speaking at the global climate conference in Paris, added that the decision to shoot down the plane was a “huge mistake” and that he had not met Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, despite them both being in Paris. He also announced the severance of all military ties with Turkey and said that from now on, Russian bombers will always be escorted by fighters on combat missions over Syria.
“But if anyone thinks that after committing a treacherous war crime, the killing of our people, they will get away with (the ban on imports) of tomatoes or some restrictions on construction and other industries, they are deeply mistaken”.
“Only Allah knows why they did it [Putin stressed the Arabic name for God]”.
If Russian supplies are reduced, U.S. LPG exporters could make up for the shortfall, increasing the U.S. share in Turkey’s LPG imports to around 12 -14 percent next year, from the current 6 percent, an unidentified source at a Turkish import company was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Russian troops have moved to fortify their positions in Syria expanding a military base, adding fortifications and developing its runways in a sign they intend to use it as their second air base in the country, Syrian activists said Thursday.
“Turkey’s Syria policy now aims to secure Ankara a seat at the table when negotiations are held for Syria’s future”, said Mr. Cagaptay. The fierce personal attack on Erdogan reflects the Kremlin’s anger and signals that Russia-Turkey tensions will likely continue to escalate.
The militants shot and killed the downed plane’s pilot while he was descending on parachute and also killed a Russian marine who was involved in rescuing the plane’s co-pilot.
“We never said oil smuggling from ISIL is not a problem”, he said, using an alternative acronym for IS.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday that he would agree to meet with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on the sidelines of an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe meeting of foreign ministers in Belgrade, the Serbian capital.
Erdogan said Thursday “a famous Russian chess player” was also involved in the oil business with IS, without giving a name.
Russian President Vladimir Putin renewed his call for a united “powerful fist” made up of all European and North American forces with which to smash the Islamic State and the rest of the terrorists.
“We have all grounds to say that the decision to down our plane was motivated by the intention to secure these routes of delivering oil to ports where it is loaded on tankers”, he said. The ministry insisted the images definitively prove Turkey’s massive oil trade with the IS.
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Putin said today during his annual address to the parliament: “We were prepared to cooperate with Turkey on most sensitive issues and go further than their allies”.
