Russia accuses US military of stealing Syria oil

The Russian Defence Ministry has asserted that its US counterpart is smuggling Syrian oil out of the country and transferring money to its bank accounts.

On Saturday, the Russian Defence Ministry published aerial images taken in September showing tank convoys transporting oil out of Syria under the guard of “US troops and the personnel of the US private military companies”.

The Russian ministry explained that the income generated from smuggling Syrian oil through brokerage companies “goes to the accounts of the US troops and the US private military services.”

Given that the cost of smuggled Syrian oil is $38 a barrel, the monthly revenue for this private transaction for US public service business exceeds $30 million, the Defence Ministry said.

The oil export contract, the Russian ministry explained, is being implemented by the US-controlled company Sadcab, which was established under the self-ruling administration in eastern Syria, Defence Ministry spokesperson Major General Igor Konashenkov said.

The ministry spokesman said that “the space intelligence images showed that oil was actively extracted and massively exported for processing outside Syria, under the reliable protection of US troops, before and after the defeat of the Daesh terrorists.”