Russia on Friday further relaxed trade sanctions placed on Turkey in the aftermath of the downing of a Russian fighter jet in 2015. In a statement, the government said Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev had signed a decree lifting the ban on some agricultural produce and Turkish companies involved in construction, engineering and tourism.

The development is the latest in the lifting of sanctions imposed after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane that had violated Turkish airspace from Syria in November 2015.

Friday's resolution removed frozen chicken and other poultry by-products as well as cucumbers, gherkins and fresh fruits from the list of blocked products, the government said. It also lifted the ban on Turkish construction, design, engineering and tourism-related companies. The decree did not mention restrictions on tomato imports from Turkey.

During a May 3 visit to Russia, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President Vladimir Putin agreed to remove sanctions with the exception of tomatoes.

During the 25th-anniversary summit for the Organization of Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) in Istanbul on May 22, Turkey and Russia signed a joint declaration to life trade restrictions between the two countries with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, his Russian counterpart Medvedev, Turkey's deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek and his Russian counterpart Arkady Dvorkovich who attended the ceremony.

After November 2015, Moscow took several measures against Ankara, including the banning of imported Turkish agricultural products and the ending of visa-free travel for Turks. Relations were frozen for months between the countries but relaxed in the summer of 2016 when Putin and Erdoğan began to bury the hatchet.

Eight banned items

The ban on eight products including zucchini, pumpkin, romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce, eggplant, pepper, pomegranate and tomato, which has become the symbol of sanctions between the two countries, still continues. Ministerial-level talks will be held between the two countries in order to lift the ban on seven items except for tomatoes.

'Conditional' green light from Russia for tomato imports

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said only two restrictions, visa-free travel for Turkish citizens and tomatoes, remained for Turkey, reported Russian state news agency TASS on Friday.

"We will solve these issues within the framework of consultations with our Turkish counterparts on a reciprocal basis," Dvorkovich was quoted as saying by TASS. He said consultations on the seasonal admission of Turkish tomatoes to the Russian market would continue during the summer. Dvorkovich, answering journalists' questions at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), said that tomatoes might be imported from Turkey in low volumes for use in making products such as sauces and fruit juices. Noting that Turkish tomatoes with affordable prices can be used for processing, Dvorkovich said, "However, importing tomatoes in high volumes is not on our agenda."

"I think they will be going on through the summer. We can reach an agreement, but I would not expect any very high volumes of supplies; they will be rather limited," he told reporters on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The Russian government put into effect the decision to remove all restrictions on Turkish food products, excluding tomatoes today.

Tomato ban to last at least 3 years

Russia's Agriculture Minister Aleksandr Tkachev, who took the toughest stance regarding the sanctions against Turkey and favored the continuation of the ban, said that the restrictions on Turkish tomatoes would last for at least three years. "The next three years will be decisive for the development of the tomato production sector in Russia. We have already reduced imports by almost twice, and we produce 800,000 tons of tomatoes in our country," Tkachev told Sputnik in an interview. "We have to increase our production by about 500,000 tons more. This requires three to five years depending on the market. For this reason, the return of Turkish tomatoes to our market is not in question in the near future." </s> Russia has lifted trade sanctions on Turkish food products after Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree on Friday, 2 June.

The decree signed by Medvedev now allows Turkey to export food items, from tomatoes and apricots to chicken products and salt, in Moscow. "The decree of the government dated November 30, 2015 with number 1296 specified a list of agricultural products, primary produce and food originated from the Turkish Republic restricted to be supplied to Russia starting January 1, 2016.

"The signed decree removes frozen parts of carcasses, by-products of dunghill-hens and turkeys, fresh and refrigerated cucumbers and cornichons, fresh apples, peaches, grapes, wild strawberries and strawberries from the list," a document posted on the government's website said.

The development came after a meeting on 3 May between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. During the talks, the two leaders agreed on a "complex decision to lift restrictive measures in mutual trade".

The 3 May talk was followed by another meeting on 22 May between the Russian and Turkish Deputy Prime Ministers – Arkady Dvorkovich and Mehmet Simsek – in which they signed a joint statement on mutually lifting the remaining trade restrictions.

Moscow has imposed sanctions on Ankara to protest against the shooting down of a Russian warplane by Turkey's military. The plane was shot down in November 2015 when it took part in Moscow's military campaign in Syria.

The attack had claimed the life of the pilot.

Although Ankara maintained its stand, claiming it acted lawfully because the plane had came into Turkish air space, Moscow refused to accept it.

Following the incident, a number of sanctions were imposed against Turkey, including in tourism sector in which charter flights from Russia to Turkey were banned and tour firms were asked to not sell any holidays there.

However, Russia did not let the incident affect energy exports, the core of economic relation between the two nations. </s> Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed an order lifting most sanctions on agricultural imports from Turkey today.

Medvedev lifted the ban on berries, fruit, meat and poultry imports. Turkish tomatoes will remain on the embargo list.

The order followed the presidential decree lifting most employment restrictions for Turkish citizens, as well as certain restrictions on operations of Turkish companies.

Russia and Turkey agreed on lifting remaining sanctions in late May when Russian Deputy PM Arkadi Dvorkovich met Turkish Deputy PM Mehmet Simsek

Russia imposed sanctions on Turkey after it shot down a Russian military jet operating in Syria in March 2015. Two Russian soldiers died as a result of the incident. </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption A Moscow market: Turkey can start shipping to millions of Russian consumers again

Russia has lifted a ban on imports of Turkish food, imposed after a Russian bomber was shot down on the Syria-Turkey border in November 2015.

But Russia is keeping seasonal limits on Turkish tomatoes, to help its own producers of sauces and juices.

Before the ban, Turkey exported food to Russia worth more than €1bn (£873m; $1.1bn) annually.

Russia is also lifting a ban on Turkish workers in the construction sector, in tourism and in hotel businesses.

The food ban affected many items, including fresh Turkish cucumbers, apples, pears, grapes, strawberries and chicken and turkey offal.

Russia continues to ban imports of most Western food and drink, in retaliation for wide-ranging Western sanctions in place since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

Russia's role in the Ukraine conflict led to a tightening of Western sanctions, which also target close aides of President Vladimir Putin.

Russia's military support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad angered Turkey, which backs Sunni Arab rebels fighting to oust him.

In November 2015 a Turkish F-16 jet shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber on the Turkey-Syria border. There was a dispute over exactly what happened, and it triggered a freeze in Russian-Turkish relations.

The thaw however began after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed regret over the incident last year. President Putin's first move was to lift a Russian boycott of Turkish holiday resorts. </s> ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Russia began delivery of an advanced missile defense system to Turkey on Friday, a move expected to trigger U.S. sanctions against a NATO ally and drive a wedge into the heart of the Western military alliance.

The first parts of the S-400 air defense system were flown to a military air base near the capital Ankara, the Turkish Defense Ministry said, sealing Turkey’s deal with Russia which Washington had struggled for months to prevent.

The United States says the Russian military hardware is not compatible with NATO systems and that the acquisition may lead to Ankara’s expulsion from an F-35 fighter jet program.

Investors in Turkey have been unsettled by the deal. The Turkish lira weakened to 5.717 against the dollar from 5.683 before the ministry announced the arrival of the S-400 consignment to the Murted Air Base, northwest of Ankara.

“The delivery of parts belonging to the system will continue in the coming days,” Turkey’s Defense Industry Directorate said. “Once the system is completely ready, it will begin to be used in a way determined by the relevant authorities.”

At least two Russian Air Force AN-124 cargo planes flew to Turkey on Friday morning, data from plane tracking website Flightradar24 showed. Turkish broadcasters showed footage of one plane parked at airbase and a second one landing at around 12.30 pm (0930 GMT).

Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation confirmed on Friday it had started delivering the S-400 systems and that the deliveries would continue in accordance with an agreed schedule, the RIA news agency reported.

Turkey says the system is a strategic defense requirement, particularly to secure its southern borders with Syria and Iraq. It says that when it made the deal with Russia for the S-400s, the United States and Europe had not presented a viable alternative.

President Tayyip Erdogan said after meeting President Donald Trump at a G20 summit last month that the United States did not plan to impose sanctions on Ankara for buying the S-400s.

Trump said Turkey had not been treated fairly but did not rule out sanctions. U.S. officials said last week the administration still plans to impose sanctions on Turkey.

Under legislation known as Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which targets purchases of military equipment from Russia, Trump should select five of 12 possible measures.

These range from banning visas and denying access to the U.S.-based Export-Import Bank, to the harsher options of blocking transactions with the U.S. financial system and denying export licenses.

Washington says the S-400s could compromise its Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter jets, an aircraft Turkey is helping to build and planning to buy.

Turkey could also face expulsion from the F-35 program under the sanctions. Erdogan has dismissed that possibility, but Washington has already started the process of removing Turkey from the program, halting training of Turkish pilots in the United States on the aircraft.

Investors in Turkey have been concerned about the impact of potential U.S. sanctions on an economy which fell into recession after a currency crisis last year.

The S-400 acquisition is one of several issues which have frayed ties between the two allies, including a dispute over strategy in Syria east of the Euphrates River, where the United States is allied with Kurdish forces that Turkey views as foes.

The detention of U.S. consular staff in Turkey has also strained relations, along with disagreements over Iran, Venezuela and Middle East policy. Turkey has long demanded Washington hand over a Muslim cleric which Ankara holds responsible for an attempted coup in 2016.

The Murted base was formerly known as Akinci Air Base and was used by putschist soldiers in the failed 2016 coup. </s> US kicking NATO ally Turkey out of fighter program

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says Turkey can no longer be part of the American F-35 fighter jet program.

In a written statement, the White House said Wednesday that Turkey's decision to buy the Russian S-400 air defense system "renders its continued involvement with the F-35 impossible."

The White House did not say explicitly that Turkey will be kicked out of the F-35 program, but the Pentagon was expected to do so.

Turkey makes numerous components for the stealth aircraft. If Turkey is removed, as expected, the U.S. will have to find alternative suppliers.

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the S-400 purchase means Turkey will not be allowed to purchase any F-35 planes.

Yet to be announced is whether the U.S. will impose economic sanctions on Turkey for its decision. </s> MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Putin also expressed satisfaction with the start of normalization of Russian-Turkish relations implying revival of the whole complex of cooperation in political, economic, humanitarian, scientific and other spheres.

"The Russian head of state expressed confidence that basing on the achieved results the countries will continue productive joint work on boosting bilateral ties, actively cooperate in solving urgent issues on the regional and international agenda in the interests of the two countries and in line with ensuring security and stability on the Eurasian continent," the statement said.

Russian-Turkish relations have deteriorated following the downing of a Russian Su-24 bomber over Syria by the Turkish Air Force. At the beginning of 2016, Russia imposed a number of restrictive measures, including a ban on charter flights, food and flowers imports.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the Syrian government and armed opposition groups reached an agreement on a ceasefire on Syrian territory, taking effect at 00:00 on Friday. Russia and Turkey took the role of the ceasefire guarantors, but other countries may also be invited, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. </s> Turkey gets first shipment of S-400 air defence systems

Ankara, July 12: The first shipment of a Russian missile defence system has arrived in Turkey, the Turkish Defence Ministry said Friday, moving the country closer to possible US sanctions and a new standoff with Washington. A Defence Ministry statement said "the first group of equipment" of the S-400 air defence systems has reached an air base near the capital, Ankara.

The U.S. has strongly urged NATO member Turkey to pull back from the deal - reportedly costing more than USD 2 billion - warning the country that it will face economic sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act if it goes ahead with the purchase. It has also said Turkey won't be allowed to participate in the program to produce high-tech F-35 fighter jets. The US has repeatedly said that the Russian system is incompatible with NATO systems and is a threat to the F-35. Sanctions would mark a new low in the already-tense relations between Turkey and the U.S.

Last year, the United States imposed sanctions on Turkey over its detention of an American pastor, triggering a Turkish currency crisis. The deal with Russia - the first such deal between Russia and a NATO member - has also raised concerns that Turkey is drifting closer to Moscow's sphere of influence. Turkey has refused to bow to US pressure, insisting that choosing which defence equipment to purchase is a matter of national sovereignty. </s> European Union leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday unanimously condemned Turkey for its aggression toward Greece and Cyprus and called on Ankara to release two Greek soldiers who have been in Turkish custody for more than three weeks.

In a draft common statement, the European Council “strongly condemns Turkey’s continued illegal actions in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea” and underlines its “full solidarity with Cyprus and Greece.”

The draft noted that “the European Council urgently calls on Turkey to cease these actions and respect the sovereign rights of Cyprus to explore and exploit its natural resources in accordance with EU and International Law.”

The draft also expressed “grave concern” about the continued detention of EU citizens in Turkey and called for the “swift and positive resolution of these issues in a dialogue with member-states.”

Arriving at the Brussels summit, Tsipras said it was important the EU insist on Turkey respecting international laws but also to keep dialogue open with Ankara.

Just a few hours later, Turkish aircraft carried out the latest in a series of violations in the Aegean.

Two Turkish F-16s harassed a Chinook helicopter that had been carrying the head of the armed forces, Lieutenant General Alkiviadis Stefanis, from the small island of Ro to Rhodes.

The pilots of the Turkish F-16s called on the helicopter to withdraw, claiming that it was in Turkish air space, before being chased off by Greek jets.

The talks in Brussels, which continue on Friday, come ahead of Monday’s scheduled meeting between EU leaders and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Varna, Bulgaria.

Diplomats in Brussels stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with Ankara, with which the EU signed a deal to curb illegal migration in 2016.

But clearly concerns about Turkey linger, in Brussels and beyond. According to a statement issued by Tsipras’s office, the Greek premier spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by telephone, discussing “developments in the Eastern Mediterranean with particular emphasis on the stance of Turkey.”

Later the Kremlin said Putin invited Tsipras to Russia.

Separately, the White House said that US President Donald Trump spoke Thursday with Erdogan to “reaffirm the importance of strong relations between the United States and Turkey.”

Meanwhile there were fresh concerns over reports in a Turkish newspaper according to which the two Greek soldiers in custody in Turkey are being investigated by Turkish authorities for alleged espionage.

According to Hurriyet, Turkish authorities found “sketches of military installations” during a search on the soldiers’ cell phones and on an encrypted phone they were allegedly carrying at the time of their arrest.

The newspaper’s claims that the two soldiers are being charged with attempted military espionage and illegal entry into a restricted military area had not been confirmed by late last night.
Russia lifts more trade sanctions it had placed on Turkey following the 2015 downing of a Russian fighter jet.