Turkey, which claims the Russian Sukhoi Su-24M bomber had entered its airspace near its border with Syria, has also advised its citizens not to visit Russia following the incident Tuesday.
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Earlier, in comments which underscore how angry the Kremlin still is over the incident, Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, called the behavior of the Turkish air force “absolute madness” and said Ankara’s subsequent handling of the crisis had reminded him of the “theatre of the absurd”.
Putin had warned that Turkey’s downing of the Russian fighter jet would have serious consequences for bilateral ties.
The decree published on the Kremlin’s website Saturday came hours after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had voiced regret over the incident, saying his country was “truly saddened” by the event and wished it hadn’t occurred. “Therefore I urge the Russian authorities to take this into consideration and act in a cool-headed way”, he said when asked about the sanctions.
The measures also include orders to suspend visa-free travel for Turkish citizens, end charter flights from Russia to Turkey, and for Russian tourism companies to stop selling trips to Turkey – a favorite holiday destination for many Russians.
He went on to call for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a climate conference in Paris this week.
“We very sincerely recommend to Russian Federation not to play with fire”, Mr Erdogan told supporters during a speech in Bayburt, in northeast Turkey.
He has refused to take calls from Mr. Erdogan.
“The American side, which leads the coalition that Turkey belongs to, knew about the location and time of our planes’ flights, and we were hit exactly there and at that time”, Mr Putin said.
“If we allow our sovereign rights to be violated… then the territory would no longer be our territory”, Erdogan said.
Mr. Putin has denounced Turkey’s action as a “stab in the back”, and insisted that the plane was wrongfully shot down.
Moscow has despatched long-range S-400 air defense missile systems to a Russian air base in Syria just 30 miles south of the border with Turkey to help protect Russian warplanes.
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The body of the pilot killed when Turkey shot down a Russian jet last week was taken to Turkey late on Saturday to be handed over to Russia on Moscow’s request, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Sunday. It said Turks should delay travel plans until “the situation becomes clear”.
