Lavrov: There are grounds to say Turkey benefits from oil business with terrorists. (Tass).
There are grounds to say that Ankara was deriving profits from oil business with terrorists, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.
He said Turkey and terrorists had "an oil business and business of contraband of artefacts and other illegal movements across the border the Turkish leadership was turning a blind eye on."
"Moreover, [the Turkish leadership] was lining its pockets from this business," he said.
The minister added, the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization (banned in Russia) gets support from countries neighboring Syria and Iraq.
"They get support from the outside, first of all, from the countries that neighbor Iraq and Syria," Lavrov said.
The foreign minister noted that terrorists are actively recruiting people. "Their aim is to create a caliphate from Portugal to Pakistan," the minister said.
"The Russian air group is helping to destroy infrastructure used by terrorists to replenish their purse," he continued.
However, he stressed, the war on terrorism is not over. "That is why we are now saying that it is necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff to see the key problem, as we once were able to see Nazism and fascism," he added.
"Today, we are far from the end of the road and have a great deal to do," he said. "But if everything that has been agreed within the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) and the United Nations Security Council is implemented honestly, there are all the chances to bring the situation out of the current state." Read the full story here.
