Putin woos Labour with intelligence on Turkey’s shady oil deals with IS
THE Kremlin is to supply Jeremy Corbyn with intelligence on how Islamic State is raising billions of pounds selling oil in the Middle East, it emerged last night.
The Russian ambassador to London said yesterday he was ‘sending by courier’ data on who benefits from the oil trade with IS terrorists.
President Putin is keen to pin the blame for IS oil sales on regional rival Turkey and this week published satellite images appearing to show tankers from Syria crossing the border.
Tensions between the two countries have increased since the Turkish military shot down a Russian fighter plane on November 24.
Addressing Mr Corbyn directly on Twitter, Alexander Yakov- enko wrote: ‘ Sending you by courier Russian data you requested yesterday in Parliament on who benefits from Isil oil trade.’
Mr Corbyn spoke about the issue in the bombing debate on Wednesday. He said IS sold oil to Turkey – which is an ally of the West and a Nato member.
He added: ‘I think we need to know exactly who is buying that oil, who is funding it, what banks are involved in the financial transactions that ultimately benefit ISIL, and which other countries in the region either are or are not involved. ‘
Russia has even claimed to have evidence the ‘thieving’ family of Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan were benefiting from the illegal smuggling of oil – a claim furiously denied by Turkey.