US State Department doubts Turkey’s oil purchases from militants

A senior US State Department official questioned Russia's claims that Turkish officials are buying large amounts of oil from the militants of the so-called Islamic State.

“I do not believe in the existence of smuggling between the territories controlled by the Islamic State and Turkey in any significant amount,” said special envoy and international energy coordinator Amos Hochstein on Friday, December 4.

Hochstein’s comment came after Russian officials submitted satellite images of automotive convoys carrying oil to Turkey from territories under the control of the Islamic State, which they said were taken in recent months.

After the incident with the downed Russian fighter on the Syrian-Turkish border, Russia intensified criticism of Turkey. Ankara said then that the plane was illegally in Turkish airspace. Moscow insists the plane was over Syria.

A US official also said that Islamic State militants are selling oil to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"We have seen significant drops in the volume of purchases by the Syrian government," said a spokesman for the US Department of State, who said that these purchases "increased dramatically" when the oil crisis hit the territories controlled by the Syrian authorities.

Militants of the "Islamic State" control more than 10 oil points in the territories they captured.

The official said that for the "Islamic state" control over oil fields is not only a source of income, but is also used by it as a reinforcement of the "artificial" image of "statehood."

Previously, the "Forum" wrote that the Ministry of Defense of Russia presented to journalists materials that should prove the involvement of Turkey and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan personally in the oil business of the “Islamic State”.

It should be noted that the accusations of the Russians against Turkey appeared only after the Turkish air force shot down Russian bomber on the border with Syria. Two days after the incident, on November 26, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that "if the Turkish authorities destroy and process oil, then we do not see the smoke of the fires from the destruction of this oil."