The Russian government on Thursday tightened control over imports of farm products from Turkey as ties between the two countries plummeted after the downing of a Russian warplane.
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The Russian government authorised the federal agricultural supervision agency, Rosselkhoznadzor, to strengthen control over agricultural products and food imports from Turkey and organise additional checks at borders and production plants in Turkey. There is talk of an embargo on Turkish goods being introduced, however this is unconfirmed by the Kremlin. “It’s completely natural, especially given the unpredictable actions in the case of the Republic of Turkey”.
Moscow banned food imports and removed thousands of European Union products from Russian shops after Brussels passed sanctions for the annexation of Crimea past year.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Russia isn’t planning to create “artificial problems” for Turkish citizens and businesses in response to the shooting down of its plane.
He said that the tragedy with the aircraft will have serious consequences for relations between Moscow and Ankara.
The measures were justified with the repeated violations of Russian standards by Turkish producers, with 15 % of Turkish agricultural products on average failing to meet Russian standards.
“In the near future Russian Federation will restrict product supplies from Turkey – already today [Thursday] a relevant official announcement could be made”, Kommersant reported, quoting the government source, according to Sputnik News.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin called Tuesday’s downing of the Su-24M fighter jet a “stab in the back” and termed Turkey “accomplices of terrorists”.
