Iraqi Kurds have dismissed Russia‘s allegation that oil belonging to the radical terrorist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) travels through Iraqi Kurdistan before ending up in Turkey.
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) official Kifah Mahmoud said Russian claims about oil sales in the Kurdistan region do not reflect reality. “Our oil tankers go to oil refineries in Turkey through the Habur border gate.”
In an address to reporters on Friday, Gen. Sergei Rudskoy, director of the Main Operations Center of the Russian General Staff, said due to the increasing number of air strikes in Syria, oil smugglers traveling to Turkey have changed their route.
He claimed that the destination of the oil trafficking is Turkey and that ISIL terrorists, stripped of their usual route due to intensified air strikes in Syria, had changed their route to one traveling through the Iraqi cities of Mosul and Zakho.