Russia-Turkey Relations: Moscow To Impose Further Sanctions On Ankara Over Su-24M Downing

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Monday that Moscow will impose further sanctions on Turkey over the shooting down of a Russian warplane late November. The comments come soon after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree last month imposing economic sanctions against Turkey.

"There will be further action, which will be announced later, the prime minister has already announced them at the [government] meetings," Dvorkovich told Rossiya-24 television channel, according to Sputnik News. Dvorkovich, however, added that Russia did not intend to completely cease its cooperation with Turkey.

The decree signed by Putin will take effect from Jan. 1, 2016. It includes a ban on recruitment of Turkish nationals by Russian employers, a food import ban on certain categories of products as well as a ban on charter flights in both directions.

Relations between Russia and Turkey strained after Ankara shot down Russia's Su-24M jet fighter on Nov. 24 accusing Moscow of violating Turkish airspace — an allegation repeatedly denied by Russia. Putin has called Turkey’s action as a “stab in the back.”

Earlier this month, Russia began the decoding of Su-24M’s black box. It said that the flight recorder was damaged resulting in failure to retrieve information. Russia also said that decoding the black box would require help from third parties such as specialized scientific research institutes. The damage to the flight recorder could hamper Russia’s efforts to find whether its warplane violated Turkish airspace.