Russia ‘Laughs Off’ Turkey’s Allegation Of Moscow’s Involvement In Oil Trade With ISIS

Russian leaders — (R-L) Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin Chief of Staff Sergei Ivanov and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev walk after Putin's address to the Federal Assembly at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, December 3, 2015. Putin used his annual state of the nation speech on Thursday to warn Turkey the Kremlin planned to adopt further sanctions against it to punish Ankara for shooting down a Russian warplane near the Syrian-Turkish border last week. REUTERS/Dmitry Astakhov/Sputnik/Pool

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has dismissed Turkey’s claim that Russia is involved in oil trader with Islamic State militants.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier accused Russia of being involved in oil trade with the militant organization. He said Turkey has “the proof” in its hands, which he was going to reveal to the world. Without taking any name, Erdogan said “a famous Russian chess player” was involved in the oil trade with ISIS.

Turkey’s allegations against Russian came after Moscow had accused Turkey of having been involved in oil trader with ISIS. Erdogan called the allegations “immoral.”

"Look, Russia has to prove that the Turkish republic buys oil from Daesh, otherwise this is a slander," AFP quoted the Turkish president as using a pejorative term for the extremist organization.

"The immoral side of this issue is involving my family in the affair."

Lavrov said he did not read Turkey’s statement about Russia’s alleged involvement in oil trader with ISIS. However, he referred to a Russian saying, “a guilty mind is never at ease,” to describe Turkey’s position.

"It is strange that it was voiced many days after the issue of illegal oil trade got to media, when we presented specific facts," Russian News Agency TASS quoted Lavrov as saying.

Earlier in November, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on Haswani for serving as a middleman in the business transaction between ISIS and the Syrian regime. The sanction is also applicable to Russian businessman, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who is a former president of the southern Russian region of Kalmykia.