Economics
Putin Swipes at Turkey Over Downed Plane, Warns on Sanctions
- Putin says Turkey `ruling gang' punished by Allah, lost reason
- Russian leader urges global coalition against Islamic State
Putin: Terrorist are Using Money From Turkey
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President Vladimir Putin raised the temperature in an increasingly bitter dispute with Turkey over the downing of a Russian warplane last week, saying the country’s “ruling gang” has lost reason as he threatened more punitive measures following economic sanctions.
“Only Allah knows why they did this,” Putin said Thursday in his annual state-of-the-nation address, drawing applause from his audience at the Kremlin. “And it seems that Allah decided to punish the ruling gang in Turkey by stripping it of common sense and reason.” Repeating accusations that Turkey is making money from Islamic State’s illegal oil trade, Putin vowed that Russia “won’t forget those who shot our pilots in the back.”