New economic sanctions were declared on Turkey as Russia announced that starting 1 January Turkish tourist agencies, hotels, and companies providing guest services in Russia, along with construction, lumber and architecture companies, will be banned.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree which imposed the added economic sanctions on Wednesday, said the Cabinet of Ministers' press service.
"By signing this decree [we] approve a list of certain types of services, which are being provided on Russia's territory by organisations under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Turkey, as well as organizations controlled by citizens of the Turkish Republic and (or) organisations under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Turkey which are prohibited, starting January 1, 2016," the official statement said.
Russia had banned import of food and put restrictions on tourism, investments, charter flights and some construction projects in November.
Russia traders continue to export wheat to Turkey, its second-biggest buyer. While traders had expressed reservations in signing new deals after Turkey downed a Su-24 Russian jet, souring relations between the two countries, which led to Russia imposing economic sanctions, trade has been continuing normally.
No informal or formal notification has been issued to traders to stop export of Russian food grains.
"Concerns over possible supply disruption to the Turkish market, which existed in late November, early December, have not materialised," Andrey Sizov, Managing Director of SovEcon agriculture consultancy, told Reuters.
"Turkey continues buying Russian wheat as the French-origin (wheat) is more expensive, while the Ukrainian-origin does not meet their needs in terms of wheat quality," Arkady Zlochevsky, the head of Russia's Grain Union, a non-government farmers' lobby group, told Reuters.
Russian Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev while talking about the "very selective" embargo said, "They are designed in a way so that existing contracts won't be violated. Here we are for the time being very cautious. We don't want to create problems for Turkish business, and even less for our own business and citizens."
Russian tourists have also been urged not travel to Turkey, which could affect the Turkish tourism industry. Currently, Russian travellers bring in $4 billion to Turkey as revenue.
