Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday accused Turkey of shooting down a Russian warplane last week to protect supplies of oil from the Islamic State group to Turkey. This strong accusation was made on the sidelines of the UN Climate talks currently being held in Paris.
“We have every reason to think that the decision to shoot down our plane was dictated by the desire to protect the oil supply lines to Turkish territory, right to the ports where it is loaded onto tankers,” Putin said during a news conference on the fringes of UN climate talks near Paris.
“We have received additional information which unfortunately confirms that this oil, produced in areas controlled by the Islamic State and other terrorist organisations, is transported on an industrial scale to Turkey.”
ISIS is said to rely on oil sales to fund its terror activities around the middle east and beyond making this accusation rather serious in the light of the global coalition being formed to fight ISIS.
After the Su-24 bomber was downed on the Syrian border last week, Putin accused the Turks of being “accomplices of terrorists” and said oil from IS territory was being exported through Turkey.