Russia to ban more Turkish vegetable imports from May 19: Interfax

The suspension followed deliveries of batches contaminated with “quarantine organisms,” Interfax news agency quoted Yulia Shvabauskene, deputy head of the agricultural body, as saying.

Trade measures have played a role in strained relations between Moscow and neighbors in recent years, though Russia made no link between the new restrictions and political matters.

The agricultural watchdog said last week it could completely ban fruit and vegetable imports from Turkey in the week of May 16, having previously imposed restrictions on imports of eggplants, lettuce, and other agricultural products.

Russia excluded at one point Georgian food exports and the European Union and Russia have also imposed restrictions on mutual trade since Russia’s annexation of Crime from Ukraine. Tensions between Ankara and Moscow have run high since Turkey shot down a Russian bomber near its border with Syria last year.