Russia steps up hostility against Turkey with war room briefing

Although Turkey may have replaced the US as Russia’s rhetorical enemy No 1, the animations playing on the giant screens in Moscow’s new “war room” complex hadn’t yet been updated: they still featured the glowing red outline of North America under laser-like lines that seemed to suggest crosshairs.

But an unexpected defence ministry briefing on Wednesday – the first such event for foreign media in recent memory – left no doubt who was in Russia’s sights. Sitting beneath the main screen, which now showed satellite images of the Turkish-Syrian border, the deputy defence minister, Anatoly Antonov, accused Turkey of buying oil from Islamic State (Isis), and claimed the Turkish president,Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was personally involved in this “criminal business”.

“A unified team of bandits and Turkish elites operates in the region to steal oil from their neighbours [Iraq and Syria],” Antonov said. “This oil reaches Turkish territory in huge, industrial amounts through living oil pipelines of thousands of tanker trucks.” The trade provided terrorists with $2bn (£1.3bn) in revenues each year.

Later, Erdoğan responded by saying: “Nobody has the right to slander Turkey by saying Turkey is buying Daesh [Isis] oil.”