Turkey shot down jet to protect ISIL oil supply – Putin

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has accused Turkey of shooting down a Russian warplane last week so it could protect its oil trade with the Islamic State. He said, “We have every reason to believe that the decision to shoot down our aircraft was dictated by the desire to ensure the safety of supply routes of oil to Turkey, to the ports where they are shipped in tankers.”

Turkey denies it buys oil from the Islamic State, but several news reports suggest Turkey tolerates some level of oil smuggling from its southeastern borders with Iraq and Syria.

Discussing the matter with world leaders during the Paris climate talks, Russian President said that Moscow has evidence that the Su-24 was shot down by Turkey to protect oil deliveries of the ISIL terrorist group, also known as Daesh, and that oil from IS-controlled fields is being exported to Turkey on an industrial scale.

“We have heard from the Turkish side that this decision was not made by the president, it was made by other people. For us, it does not matter much, the important thing is that two of our servicemen died as a result of this criminal move,” he told reporters.

He said that despite the downing of the Su-24 by Ankara, Moscow will continue to strive for a broad, international coalition to combat the terrorist group, adding that he regrets the deterioration of relations between Russia and Turkey.

One Russian pilot was killed and the other rescued from the crash on 24 November. Putin's comments come on the same day the body of Lt Col Oleg Peshkov was brought back to Russia after his remains were recovered by Turkish authorities at the Syrian border.