Russian military officials yesterday revealed what they say is hard evidence that Turkey is involved in an oil trade with ISIS, offering more detail on earlier claims that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has flatly denied.
“We presented evidence how the illegal oil trade is carried out to finance the terrorist groups,” Russian Deputy Defense Minister, Anatoly Antonov, said, according to state media.
“We know how much Erdogan’s words are worth,” Antonov added
Officials presented photographs and videos that they said show links between Turkey and oil refineries in ISIS-controlled territory in Syria, estimating $3 million worth of oil per day was traversing this route before Russian airstrikes cut that roughly in half.
Antonov also credited Russian journalists for their reports claiming one of Erdogan’s sons had a role in the scheme.
“If they think the evidence is fake, let them make these areas available to journalists,” Antonov further said.
Wednesday’s defense briefing is the latest verbal salvo since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane on November 24.
Turkish authorities maintained that the plane was given ample warning and was in Turkish airspace. But Moscow denied both assertions, saying the aircraft was downed over Syria.
Erdogan had said on Sunday that he was saddened by the incident but refused to apologize.
Hours after, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law various measures aimed at hurting Turkey economically.
Erdogan countered the Russian claims to ISIS links, saying: “I will resign if Moscow’s claims are proven true because the nobility of our nation requires me to do this. But Putin should also resign if the allegations are not true.”
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