Paris: Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Turkey of downing the Russian warplane last week because it wanted to protect supplies of oil from the Islamic State group.
Speaking at the global climate conference in Paris on Monday, Putin said, “We have every reason to believe that the decision to down our plane was guided by a desire to ensure security of this oil's delivery routes to ports where they are shipped in tankers.”
“At the moment we have received additional information confirming that that oil from the deposits controlled by Islamic State militants enters Turkish territory on industrial scale,” he added
The Russian President further said 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.
Putin said most of the counterparts he had spoken to at the climate conference, which began Monday and is being attended by around 150 world leaders, agreed it was "not necessary" for Turkey to shoot down the Russian plane.
Erdogan has called claims that Turkey buys oil from Islamic State "slander".
Speaking in Paris on Monday, President Recep Erdogan said that he will leave office if there is proof of Turkey's cooperation with IS.
“We are not that dishonest as to buy oil from terrorists. If it is proven that we have, in fact, done so, I will leave office. If there is any evidence, let them present it, we'll consider [it],” he said, as quoted by TASS.
Relations between Russia and Turkey have nosedived since Turkey shot down the Russian bomber near the Syrian-Turkish border on Nov. 24.
Turkey, a member of NATO, shot down a Russian war plane on the Syrian border last week, as it said that the Russian jet violated Turkish airspace 10 times within a five- minute period, an account challenged by Moscow which said it was over Syria.
President Vladimir Putin described the occurrence as a ‘stab in back', saying it would have "serious consequences" for ties between two key protagonists in the Syria war.
