citizens starting from January 1, 2016
Turkey is a major customer of Russian natural gas exports and a big destination for Russian tourists.Russia buys Turkish exports including produce, having already banned food from the United States and European Union in retaliation for financial sanctions imposed over Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine.
Russia’s Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said on Sunday Moscow would not boycott international sporting events held in Turkey, but would require maximum security and would limit training trips by Russian athletes there, RIA reported.
Meanwhile, Turkey recovered the body of a Russian pilot from northern Syria and presented it to Russian diplomats on Sunday, five days after shooting down his warplane in an incident that wrecked relations between two of the main powers involved in Syria’s war.
A coffin carrying Oleg Peshkov arrived by ambulance on the tarmac of Hatay Airport in southern Turkey near the Syrian border, a Reuters photographer said.
It was flown to the capital Ankara, where according to Russia’s RIA news agency it was met at an airfield by Moscow’s ambassador and military attache.
The Russian embassy declined to comment and Turkish officials did not immediately disclose when the body would be repatriated to Russia.
The shooting down of the Russian fighter jet by Nato-member Turkey, the first known incident of its kind since the Cold War, has set back efforts to forge a united front against Islamic State or Daesh in the weeks since the militant group claimed responsibility for mass killings in Paris and blowing up a Russian airliner.
Moscow has responded towards Ankara with fury, calling the episode a pre-planned provocation.Turkey says Peshkov’s plane was in its air space and had ignored repeated warnings when it was shot down.
Russia says it was flying over Syria and was struck unprovoked.The navigator of the two-seat jet survived but another Russian service member was killed rescuing him from northern Syria.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutgolu said on Sunday that Peshkov’s body had arrived in Turkey overnight, but gave no further details of how it was recovered or brought across the border.