Russia ‘may expand sanctions against Turkey’

MOSCOW

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the audience at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, December 14, 2015. REUTERS/Michael Klimentyev/Sputnik/Kremlin

Russian sanctions on Turkey could be extended to the hotel business, timber processing, pilot training and government contracts in any industry, as claimed by Russian newspaper Kommersant on Dec. 16. 

A relevant draft resolution was prepared by Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development and forwarded to the cabinet, according to paper, as reported by Reuters. 

The draft has been developed pursuant to a basic “anti-Turkish” decree of President Vladimir Putin from Nov. 28. 

As part of the decree, a number of sanctions have already been imposed, including an immediate ban on imports from Turkey including food, the halting of some government cooperation programs and limiting the involvement of Turkish citizens in the Russian Federation. Russian ministry sources told Kommersant that the project is ongoing and refused to discuss the details.

The new regulation will introduce a list of “types of works that are prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation for organizations within the jurisdiction of Turkey,” reported Kommersant. 

“We are talking about the import of construction services, travel services, hotel services as well as wood processing and the training of civilian personnel of airlines of the Russian Federation in Turkey,” said sources. 

Sources also told Kommersant that the sanctions also ban Russian legal entities from signing contracts with certain types of Turkish counterparties. The sanctions can be monitored by the Federal Financial Monitoring Service, with involvement of Russia’s central bank. 

The Russian government will also be able to decide sanction exceptions as it wishes.