Putin cancels some special economic measures against Turkey

Vladimir Putin

MOSCOW, July 25. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree "On the abolition of some special economic measures against the Turkish Republic."

The document published on the official website of legal information, in particular, instructs Russia’s Foreign Ministry to notify the Republic of Turkey of the partial renewal of the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Turkey on conditions for mutual visits of citizens of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Turkey dated May 12, 2010."

On November 28, 2015, Russia adopted the decree "On measures to ensure the national security of the Russian Federation and to protect Russian citizens from criminal and other unlawful actions and to apply special economic measures against the Republic of Turkey." Then a crisis arose in relations between Moscow and Ankara after the Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber in the skies over Syria on November 24.

Since January 1, 2016, the agreement was partially suspended but only for the citizens of Russia and Turkey holding regular internal and foreign passports. The agreement was still valid for the Turkish citizens with service passports who go on short-term business trips, including diplomatic missions of Russia and Turkey.

According to the new decree, Turkish citizens with service passports are no longer subject to these restrictions, regardless of the purpose of their trip to Russia. However, the restrictions are removed on condition that Turkey does the same for the relevant category of Russian citizens with service passports travelling to Turkey.