Russian President Vladimir Putin snubbed a meeting with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Paris on Monday as the body of a pilot killed when Ankara downed one of Moscow’s warplanes was flown home. Turkish authorities, meanwhile, again pledged not to apologise over last Tuesday’s downing of the Russian jet as Moscow rolled out its sanctions aimed at exacting economic revenge on Ankara.
russian-Antonov-124Putin and Erdogan have been locked in a furious war of words since the incident and the Kremlin strongman rejected the Turkish leader’s offer of face-to-face talks on the sidelines of a climate conference in the French capital. “No meeting with Erdogan is planned. There is no discussion of such a meeting,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
The downing of the Russian jet on the Turkey-Syria border — the first time a NATO member has shot down a Russian plane since 1952 — has seen ties shattered between the two rival players in the Syria conflict. Russia’s government on Monday laid out more details of retaliatory economic sanctions aimed at denting Turkey’s key tourism and agricultural sectors.
Moscow announced it will halt fruit and vegetable imports from Turkey after Putin signed a decree over the weekend banning charter flights and the sale of package holidays, and scrapping Russia’s visa-free regime with the country. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called the moves a “first step” as Moscow also said it would limit Turkish transport firms and tighten controls on construction contracts. The authorities, however, stopped short of targeting Russia’s major joint energy projects with Turkey.
AFP
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