Russia urged U.N. Security Council members late Monday to back a draft statement that would bar crude oil sales by “terrorist groups” in Syria, including the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)

Russia urged U.N. Security Council members late Monday to back a draft statement that would bar crude oil sales by “terrorist groups” in Syria, including the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

The draft also stressed that any export or import of oil without the approval of the sovereign state violates the law, expressing worries over the terrorist groups’ takeover of many oil fields in Syria, among these groups are the ISIL and Al-Nusra Front.

The draft presidential statement renounces any overt or covert involvement in these activities, adding that involvement in such bargains are similar to providing financial support to the groups which are labeled as terrorist by the UNSC’s Special Committee. The Russian-backed measure “strongly condemns any engagement in direct or indirect trade of oil from Syria involving terrorist groups, and reiterates that such engagement constitutes financial support for entities designated by the Security Council 1267/1989 Committee as terrorist.”

The draft requires the approval of all 15 members to become a presidential statement.

Earlier, UN Permanent Representative to the UN Vitaly Churkin said that the revenues of oil illegal trade usually go to the terrorist groups in the region. “One of the sources of financing of terrorists in the Middle East is the illegal sale of oil and various countries are buying through intermediaries,” Churkin told reporters.

“We know that terrorist organizations are doing illegal oil trading from the territories of both Syria and Iraq,” he said, adding that because “it is a terrorist organization, those who are buying this oil are financing terrorism.”