Russian PM: joint projects with Turkey may be canceled after Russian jet downed

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday that Ankara could expect to be on the receiving end of economic and business sanctions after the downing of a Russian warplane, warning that the move could result in canceling some important joint projects.

Speaking in the city of Yekaterinburg, Medvedev said the Kremlin may now move to cancel important joint projects with Turkey, saying Turkish firms – who are active in everything from construction to retailing – could see their market share in Russia shrink.

Complaining that Turkey’s actions had increased tensions between Russia and NATO, of which Ankara is a member, Medvedev reiterated Putin’s accusation that unnamed Turkish officials were benefiting from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) oil sales.

The result, he said, was that long-running neighborly ties between Russia and Turkey had been ruptured.

“The direct consequences could lead to our refusal to take part in a whole raft of important joint projects and Turkish companies losing their positions on the Russian market,” Medvedev said in a statement.

Russia and Turkey have important trade and economic ties. Turkey imports almost all of its energy from Russia, including 60 percent of its gas and 35 percent of its oil. Russia’s state Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom) is due to build Turkey’s first nuclear power station, a $20 billion project, while plans are on the table for a gas pipeline from Russia known as TurkStream.

Turkish building and beverage companies also have significant interests in Russia.

Shares in Enka İnşaat, which has construction projects in Russia and two power plants in Turkey using Russian gas, fell for a second day on Wednesday. Brewer Anadolu Efes, which has six breweries in Russia and controls around 14 percent of the market, also saw its shares fall on Tuesday.

Russians are second only to Germans in terms of the numbers visiting Turkey, bringing in an estimated $4 billion a year in tourism revenues. But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday advised them not to visit and one of Russia’s largest tour operators to the country said it would temporarily suspend sales of trips.

Source Turkiye