RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin said Monday the reason Turkey downed a Russian warplane last week was that it wanted to protect supplies of oil from Islamic State.

    Putin, speaking at the global climate conference in Paris, added that the decision to shoot down the plane was a “huge mistake” and that he had not met Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, despite them both being in Paris.

    “We have received additional data which confirm that Islamic State oil ... enters the territory of Turkey,” Putin said. “The decision to shoot down the plane was dictated specifically by a desire to defend supplies.”

    Erdogan has called claims that Turkey buys oil from Islamic State “slander.”

    He said he would resign if Moscow can prove its claim that Turkey shot down a Russian plane to protect its oil trade with ISIS. “As soon as such a claim is proved, the nobility of our nation requires [me] to do this,” Erdogan told reporters Monday.

    Relations between Russia and Turkey have nosedived since Turkey shot down the Russian bomber near the Syrian-Turkish border on Nov. 24.

    Turkish officials have said the plane violated Turkish airspace and had been warned repeatedly. Moscow says the aircraft was over Syria, where Russia is carrying out an air campaign to support the forces of President Bashar al-Assad.

    The U.S. State Department said Monday that U.S. and Turkish evidence shows the Russian military jet violated Turkish air space before it was shot down, but it is important now that Moscow and Ankara work to de-escalate the situation,

    Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu yesterday called for the opening of communication channels between Turkey and Russia.

    Putin and Erdogan did not meet at Monday’s summit in Paris which Erdogan had described as an opportunity to mend shattered ties between the two countries.

    (SD-Agencies)