Russia Unveils Sanctions List Against Turkey

[Purveyor]

English.news.cn 2015-12-02 03:00:37 More

MOSCOW, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Russia's government on Tuesday approved a resolution listing detailed sanctions against Turkey in response to last week's downing of a Russian warplane near the Syrian-Turkish border.

The resolution, signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, bans from Jan. 1 imports of foodstuffs, including poultry meat, a variety of fresh, frozen and dried fruit and vegetables, as well as cloves and table salt.

The resolution suspends activities of the Russian-Turkish Intergovernmental Commission for Trade and Economic Cooperation as well as all mutual trade and investments negotiations.

The resolution cuts the number of annual licenses for 2016 granted to Turkish cargo transporters by road to 2,000 with a prospect of cancelling them altogether.

Meanwhile, according to the resolution, Turkish citizens without a labor contract or a civil contract signed before Dec. 31, 2015 won't be allowed to work on the territory of Russia from Jan. 1, 2016.

Bilateral agreement on visa-free travel is suspended, together with charter flights between the two countries except those meant to repatriate Russian tourists from Turkey.

Also on Tuesday, Russia's Tour Operators Association said it had stopped selling tours to Turkey indefinitely, while the Ministry of Education and Science said it was curtailing cooperation with Turkey's universities and planned shortly to repatriate all Russian students in the near future.

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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-12/02/c_134874511.htm

[pampango]

1. Russia has a huge trade surplus with Turkey. This should be interesting.

How Russia’s sanctions against Turkey will affect both economies

The sanctions that Moscow is introducing against Turkey will mainly affect Turkish imports, say Russian experts. Yet trade between the two countries is largely made up of Russian exports, primarily wheat and gas, and the authorities have so far no plans to bring in any restrictions in these sectors.

According to the official Russian statistics authority, Rosstat, Turkey is Russia’s fifth-largest trade partner. In 2014, trade between the two countries amounted to $31 billion, and in the first nine months of 2015, to $18.1 billion.

Most of these amounts are made up of Russian exports: In 2015, Turkish imports stood at just slightly over $3 billion. At the end of 2015, trade between the two countries was expected to reach $23-25 billion, with Russian exports amounting to some $20 billion and imports to a mere $4-5 billion, according to Alexander Knobel, head of international trade studies at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

Overall, experts forecast, trade between the two countries is unlikely to drop by more than 50 percent. “I don’t think that in 2016, the reduction in trade will be even as high as 50 percent,” said Alexander Knobel.

Having said that, he continued, the biggest losses may come from unrealized future projects. As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared previously, by 2020 trade with Russia could reach $100 billion. This figure was largely based on expectations for large-scale interstate projects, like the Turkish Stream gas pipeline and the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, which are likely to be dropped in the current situation, said Knobel.

http://rbth.com/business/2015/12/01/how-rusias-sanctions-against-turkey-will-affect-both-economies_546319

Restricting imports from Turkey won't have much effect. It will be interesting to see if Turkey responds to Russia's move. Turkey is a big export market (#6) for Russia and Russia has a large trade surplus with Turkey.

The much talked about Turkish Stream gas pipeline which emerged as an alternative way to get Russian gas to Europe may be dead. Ukraine's pipeline may benefit from this.