Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has called for a broad international front against terrorism and accused Turkey of trading oil with the so-called Islamic State group.
Speaking in his state-of-the-nation address, Mr Putin called for an end to what he called double standards, and halting any backing of terror groups.
He specifically targeted Turkey, accusing it of buying oil from the so-called Islamic State group. He said that Turkey’s downing of a Russian jet at the border with Syria was a “treacherous war crime”.
Turkey said it shot down the plane after it violated its airspace for 17 seconds despite repeated warnings, while Russia has insisted that the aircraft has stayed in Syria’s airspace.
Moscow has responded to the shooting down by deploying long-range air defence missile systems to its air base in Syria and slamming an array of economic sanctions on Turkey.
“We know that Turkey is filling its pocket and allows terrorists to earn money by selling oil stolen from Syria,” he said. “For that money the bandits are recruiting mercenaries, buying weapons and staging cruel terror attacks aimed against our citizens, as well as citizens of France, Lebanon, Mali and other countries.”
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has denied that his country was involved in oil trade with the so-called IS, but the Russian Defence Ministry on Wednesday released an array of satellite and aerial images showing hundreds of oil tankers streaming across the border to support the claims.
Mr Putin said that Russia will take other retaliatory moves against Turkey, but will not engage in sabre rattling.
“We will remind them not once about what they have done, and they will feel sorry about it more than once,” he said without spelling out what other actions Russia may take.
Meanwhile, the Turkish and Russian foreign ministers are to meet on the sidelines of an international gathering in Serbia, according to Turkey’s Foreign Ministry.
The meeting would be the first between senior officials from the two countries since Turkey downed the Russian warplane, touching off a crisis between the two countries that previously enjoyed warm ties.
A ministry official said Sergey Lavrov and Mevlut Cavusoglu would meet at an Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) gathering in the Serbian capital Belgrade.
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