REUTERS
Information about Ankara's oil purchases from the terrorist organization calling itself Islamic State is crucial to fighting against terrorism, and not finding faults with the Turkish leadership, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, when asked if Moscow would make public evidence at its disposal Ankara had been purchasing crude oil from the Islamic State, TASS reports.
Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that should any such evidence come to the surface, he would be prepared to resign.
"This is not a new statement. In this case it is most important to have information at one's disposal and to use it in efforts focused mostly not on proving something but on the struggle with terrorism. And this information is being used precisely for the struggle with terrorism," Peskov said without elaborating, according to TASS.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday noted that Russia has grounds to suspect that the Sukhoi Su-24 aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces was downed to secure illegal oil deliveries from Syria to Turkey.