Russia accuses Turkey of shooting down jet to defend ISIS oil supply

New Delhi: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday accused Ankara of shooting down a Russian warplane to safeguard oil supplies from the Islamic State (IS) group to Turkey. Russia confirmed that the oil deposits controlled by IS transited through Turkey on an industrial scale responding to which Turkish President Recep Erdogan said he would "resign if this is confirmed."

Moscow accused Turkey of shooting down a Russian Su-24 on November 24 to protect illicit oil supply from Syria to Turkey, on several grounds said Putin on the sidelines of the climate change summit in Paris on Monday.

"We have every reason to believe that the decision to down our plane was guided by a desire to ensure the security of this oil's delivery routes to ports where they are shipped in tankers," said Putin in an interview with a Russian daily.

Meanwhile, the Turkish authorities refused to apologise over the incident, as they accused Moscow of rolling out sanctions intended at unleashing economic revenge. Putin blamed Ankara of protecting Islamic State oil exports after rejecting Turkish President's proposition of a discussion on the sidelines of Paris Summit.

He went on to claim that the country was supporting sources and funds for the jihadist group. The shooting down of the Russian jet on the Turkey-Syria border was the first time that a Nato country struck off a Russian plane since 1952 and rebuked relations between the two conflicting actors in the Syria conflict.

Russia also positioned further halt on reciprocal economic sanctions aimed at damaging Turkey's fundamental tourism and agricultural sectors. Putin declared bans on chartered flights and the sale of package holidays, scrapping Russia's visa-free regime with the country.

Moscow has several times requested Ankara to "stop this practice," Putin added, but specified that Russia "traced some (terrorist activities) located on the territory of the Turkish Republic and living in regions guarded by special security services and police that have used the visa-free regime to return to our territory, where we continue to fight them," he said.