Russia’s embargo on Turkish tourism and trade is temporary, and the continuation of the sanctions depend in part on whether Russia can find alternatives to Turkish produce, Russia’s economic development minister said Tuesday.
“We want to ensure that it is felt by Turkey on the one hand, but on the other hand minimize the risk for Russia, including the risk of inflation,” Alexey Ulyukaev said at a press briefing in Brussels following a meeting among Russia, the EU and Ukraine on the implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
“Whether it affects Russia’s inflation or not depends on how quickly we can replace those goods that we imported from Turkey with goods from other countries or with Russian produce,” Ulyukaev said. But the impact on inflation is likely to be short term, he added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a raft of sanctions last month on Turkey, including a ban on certain agricultural products, charter flights to Turkey, and labor restrictions. The move came in response to Turkey shooting down a Russian fighter plane on November 24. Turkey claims the plane was in its airspace, although Russia denies this.
Russia is looking to replace Turkish fruit supplies with produce from the Middle East and North Africa, but it is unclear how quickly this will happen, Ulyukaev said.
Responding to a question about why Russia’s sanctions against Turkey were not as severe as those imposed by the country against the EU earlier this year, Ulyukaev said the situations were different.
“There is no parallel with the embargo against the EU, Australia, Canada, and so on, because that was in response to sanctions, which is why we embargoed all goods. Turkey did not join the sanctions.”
Ulyukaev told journalists that Russia may stagger the rolling back of the sanctions, with some elements phased out earlier than others.
“We will be monitoring how Turkey responds to this. The Russian Federation has no desire for permanent sanctions. This affects people, at the end of the day.”