According to reports, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced measures against Turkey, including the suspension of visa-free travel, halting tours to Turkey and a ban on the hiring of Turkish nationals, in retaliation for the downing of one of its military jets.
Russia will also block some goods from Turkey, the list of which the government will determine at a later time, Putin’s administration said late Saturday in an e-mailed statement. Visa-free travel to Russia is suspended from Jan. 1, and Russia is also banning charter flights to Turkey, which has been the top destination for Russian tourists, with 3.3 million making the trip in the first nine months of this year.
Russia earlier said it had been “backstabbed” by Turkey, whose F-16 fighter plane shot down a Russian Su-24 jet over the Turkish-Syrian border that had been conducting a bombing raid on targets in Syria. The downing of the warplane soured optimism that ties between Russia and the West would improve in the wake of the terrorist attacks Nov. 13 in Paris and the downing of a Russian passenger jet over the Sinai peninsula on Oct. 31.
The Russian government, which said on Thursday it needed two days to make a list of retaliatory measures, may delay their publication until the evening of Nov. 30, the Gazeta.ru website reported Saturday, citing a government official.