Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his family members are directly involved in illegal oil deliveries from oil fields belonging to Daesh (also known as the Islamic State, IS, ISIL) in Syria, according to Russia's Defense Ministry, the Sputnik international news agency reported.
"Revenues from the sale of oil are one of the most important sources of activity by terrorists in Syria," Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said during a briefing in Moscow. "They earn around $2 billion annually, spending these funds on hiring militants from around the world and equipping them with weapons, equipment, and arms."
The ministry provided photographs of columns of oil fuel tankers on the Turkish-Syrian border. Fuel tankers with oil freely cross the border between Turkey and Iraq, according to Russia's General Staff.
"The main consumer of this oil stolen from the legal owners in Syria and Iraq is Turkey," Antonov added. "According to available information, this illegal business includes the upper political leadership of the country, President Erdogan and his family."
These oil revenues are used not only to enrich the Turkish leadership but to arm terrorists as well, the General Staff said.
Antonov said that Russia will continue to provide facts that Turkey steals from its neighbors, adding that it's a surprise no one in the West ever noticed that Erdogan's son is the owner of one of the largest energy companies, while the president's son-in-law was energy minister.