Turkey detained Russian journalists looking into its alleged involvement in oil trade with ISIS. Russia, on the other hand, has applied more pressure on Turkey as one of its state-owned contractors halted work on a nuclear plant in Ankara.

“We strongly condemn the illegal actions of the Turkish authorities,” RT quoted the Russian Foreign Ministry. “Such an attitude towards the media is absolutely unacceptable,” he added.

Last Monday, Turkey officials detained Alexander Buzaladze along with the press crew of the TV program “Special Correspondent.” The media group was working on investigating the smuggling controversy involving Turkey and the Islamic State. However, trouble already ensued once the journalists arrived at the border. Buzaladze said that they did not face opposition while working in Istanbul and Ankara. However, once they were at the Turkish-Syrian border, security forces blocked their filming.

“The first thing they wanted to know [was] if we had a camera. The camera was left in the luggage compartment, locked in a case. Despite this, they took our documents and we were taken to the police station. Later, we were photographed, fingerprinted, brought to the doctor for a medical examination to confirm that we are in a sane state and that we are alive and well,” the journalist added. The Russian Foreign Ministry claimed that Turkish officials offered no explanation after the organisation got in touch with them.

“The Turkish authorities refused to give explanations to representatives of the Russian Embassy in Turkey who got in touch with the crew shortly after their detention,” the ministry explained.

Russia, on other hand, will not stand still as state-owned Rosatom halted construction on Turkey's first planned nuclear power plant. Turkey officials just revealed the matter following the degrading political relations between Moscow and Ankara, according to The Australian. Rosatom still has the contract but the company said it is sceptical whether to continue or not because of considerable compensation clauses. Turkey is already on the lookout for other candidates.

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