Download RBTH Daily app for free to be up to date with what’s new in Russia. Get a fresh and brief digest every day.
Follow the link to learn moreThe high effectiveness of the actions by the Russian aviation group in Syria is making ISIS militants look for new ways to smuggle crude oil to Turkey, Lieutenant-General Sergei Rudskoi, the head of the Main Operative Department of the Russian General Staff, said.
"Trying to avoid being bombed by the Russian aviation, they [the militants] are changing their logistics and are building new routes for smuggling crude oil," Rudskoi told a briefing in Moscow on Dec. 25.
He said the transportation route leads from the province Deir-ez-Zor, which is controlled by ISIS, through the border populated areas of Guna and Tal Sfuk, Syria, in the direction of Mosul and Zaho on the territory of Iraq.
The oil-carrying trucks head to the Syrian-Iraqi border, using the shortest route, and they cross the border near the populated area of Tal Sfuk, the general said.
"However, despite the significant diversion, Turkey remains the destination point of this smuggling route," Rudskoi said.
