The immediate aftermath of the Russian jet downing by Turkish F-16s may have settled, but the debate between Moscow and Ankara is far from over. Last week, the Russian Defense Ministry released footage allegedly showing Heavy Goods Vehicles, known as HGVs, crossing into Turkey from Syria without being checked by border control agents.
Turkey has for years been criticized for maintaining a particularly porous Syrian border, which US and other officials have warned makes for easy access for foreign fighters, including Daesh (ISIS). Russian officials claim the loose controls at that frontier also facilitate the outflow of goods from Daesh-controlled areas inside Syria.
Russian Deputy Chief of Operations Sergei Rudskoi last week gave three possible routes Daesh-controlled oil is traveling to make it across the Turkish border and on toTurkish ports along the Mediterranean.
In response to last week's claims, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would resign if proven true. The video shows trucks passing through a border checkpoint, a cluster of other trucks gathered in eastern Syria and neat rows of vehicles parked along Turkey's Mediterranean coast.
Turkey, meanwhile, has warned Russia and Iran over the ramped-up accusations. The Turkish president said he'd spoken with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani last Thursday, the Jersalem Post reports, and warned of a "high price if [the discussion] continues like that."
He then acccused Russia, instead, of consuming the militant group's oil. And as propoganda momentum grows, tit-for-tat responses from both sides are probably only going to increase.
Watch the video below, via LiveLeak.
