Sochi, Russia. Having put differences aside, Moscow and Ankara are moving forward in defense and trade issues as Germany now ends up having poor relations with the Erdogan regime in recent relations.
A number of trade and travel restrictions left over from a diplomatic spat with Turkey over a year ago will be lifted within a week, Russia’s deputy prime minister stated.
Speaking of the end of sanctions between the two long term trading partners,“Nearly 99 percent of the work has been completed,” Arkady Dvorkovich said in Russia’s coastal town of Sochi today.
The deputy PM Dvorkovich said the agreements reached earlier this month between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan were put on paper and only formal adjustments remain before the two resume a multi billion dollar relationship in a variety of enterprises.
After Turkey shot down a Russian military jet over an airspace violation in November 2015, Moscow took several measures against Ankara, including banning imports of Turkish agricultural products and ending visa-free travel for Turks.
During a visit to Russia on 3 May, Erdogan and Putin had agreed on all trade issues, including food and textiles, except for tomatoes. Since last summer, Russia has relaxed the measures and lifted bans on some products, particularly citrus fruits.
Most notably, Turkey and Russia have begun construction on the TurkStream pipeline which will surface on the shore of the European part of Turkey near Kıyıköy with gas delivery point at Lüleburgaz for the Turkish customers, and a border crossing between Turkey and Greece in İpsala serving as delivery point for the European customers.
On May 4, 2017 Alexei Miller said at the working meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Gazprom is ready to start laying the marine section of the Turkish Stream pipeline within the next few days. Construction of the TurkStream gas pipeline was commenced on May 7, 2017 in the Black Sea near the Russian coast.