Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the country has proof that Russia was involved in an illegal oil trade with the Islamic State group in Syria.
Russia had previously accused Erdogan and his family of involvement in the illegal oil trade with ISIL jihadists after Ankara's downing of one of Moscow's warplanes last month. Erdogan said that he would resign if Moscow proved the allegation. He added that it was actually Russians who were involved in oil dealings.
In November, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on George Haswani, holder of a Russian passport and a Syrian national, for serving as a middleman for oil purchases by the Syrian government from the Islamic State group.
Erdogan said Thursday "a famous Russian chess player" was also involved in the oil business with ISIL.
The new US sanctions also apply to Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, a wealthy Russian businessman and long-standing president of the World Chess Federation.
