© Michael Klimentyev / RIA Novosti
November 16, 2015. Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Antalya, Turkey.
President Vladimir Putin says he's shared Russian intelligence data on Islamic State financing with his G20 colleagues: the terrorists appear to be financed from 40 countries, including some G20 member states. During the summit, "I provided examples based on our data on the financing of different Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) units by private individuals. This
money, as we have established, comes from 40 countries and, there are some of the G20 members among them," Putin told the journalists.
Putin also spoke of the urgent need to curb the illegal oil trade by IS. "I've shown our colleagues photos taken from space and from aircraft which clearly demonstrate the scale of the illegal trade in oil and petroleum products," he said. "The motorcade of refueling vehicles stretched for dozens of kilometers, so that from a height of 4,000 to 5,000 meters they stretch beyond the horizon," Putin added, comparing the convoy to gas and oil pipeline systems.
It's not the right time to try and figure out which country is more and which is less effective in the battle with Islamic State, as now
a united international effort is needed against the terrorist group, Putin said. Putin reiterated Russia's readiness to support armed opposition in Syria in its efforts to fight Islamic State. "Some armed opposition groups consider it possible to begin active operations against IS with Russia's support. And we are ready to provide such support from the air. If it happens it could become a good basis for the subsequent work on a political settlement," he said. "We really need support from the US, European nations, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran," the president added.
Comment: ISIS receives funds from private investors in the Gulf countries, who want Assad removed, in particular
Kuwait and
Saudi Arabia. Qatar also sends money to ISIS through Islamic charities. Substantial funds are generated via shady transactions in the south of the
UK with banking services provided on the phone.
ISIS also gains up to one billion dollars annually from
trafficking heroin from Afghanistan to Europe. Until the Russian airstrikes began, it was estimated that the main source of ISIS' income was
smuggling oil and oil products from the occupied oil fields and refining capacities through Turkish, Kurdish and Jordanian intermediaries. The ISIS oil "
business" was coordinated from Washington to inflict financial loss on Russia.
For more see:
Funding terror: The financial sources of ISIS
Comment: ISIL has claimed responsibility for this heinous act. ISIL has also cultivated a particular image through its propaganda videos. Yet eyewitnesses describe the antithesis of that image. No masks, no headbands with slogans printed on them, no blacks flags (a supposed signature left at the scene of the Charlie Hebdo attack and several other terrorist incidents).
Instead, someone who saw them up close is describing white, clean-shaven men who look and act like soldiers. Very strange.