MOSCOW: “Daesh earn an estimated $850,000 to $1.65 million per day from oil sales through private middlemen who operate a fleet of trucks through smuggling routes”, a report by the United Nation. Russia is making a push at the United Nations for a new resolution to choke off funding from oil sales, the antiquities trade and ransom payments to the Daesh group.
The resolution could come before the Security Council this week and follows strong condemnation by the 15-member council of the gruesome murder of a Jordanian pilot by Daesh militants.
United Nation’s Al Qaeda monitoring team recommended in November that the council take aim at oil revenues by seizing all oil tanker trucks leaving the militant-controlled territory.
Oil revenues are believed to have decreased recently, however, as a result of Daesh losses.
The diplomat described the Russian move as a “substantive resolution” that would bolster previous moves at the United Nations to put the squeeze on Daesh sources of financing.
The council in August adopted a resolution to cut off sources of financing and the flow of foreign fighters to Iraq and Syria, warning countries that do trade in oil with the militants they could face sanctions.
The Russian measure could put added pressure on Turkey, seen as a major transit point for the oil deliveries, with trucks often returning to Iraq or Syria with refined products.
