Russia has announced tighter controls of Turkish food imports, citing frequent violations of safety standards in the past few months. The Kremlin said it could easily buy agricultural produce from other nations instead.
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Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday ordered the government to draw up measures that would include freezing some joint investment projects with Turkey in response to the downing of a Russian warplane on the Syrian border.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan dismissed the Russian announcement as "emotional and unfitting of politicians."
Earlier in the day, government officials in Moscow said they would reinforce control over Turkish food imports.
They avoided establishing a direct link between the announcement and the current tensions with Ankara over the downing of the Russian jet.
Russia claimed some 15 percent of Turkish produce did not meet national safety standards, with levels of pesticides "considerably above allowed limits."
Feeling bitter
"Taking into account repeated violations by Turkish producers, the Russian government has tasked the food safety agency with reinforcing control over supplies of agricultural produce and food from Turkey," Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev said in a statement.
Russia's importance for Turkey's economy
After Turkey shot down a Russian war plane, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said the incident could result in cancelling important joint projects. DW examines what's economically at stake in the dispute.
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Tourism
Moscow has warned Russians against visiting Turkey, saying the threat of terrorism there was no less than in Egypt, where a bomb attack brought down a Russian passenger plane last month. Each year millions of Russian tourists spend their holidays in Turkey's seaside resorts. Some of them like the Kremlin Palace Hotel in Antalya are tailor-made for Russian guests.
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Trade
Turkish food exports so far have not been affected by Moscow's ban on most Western food imports. In 2014, about 4 percent of Turkish exports, mainly textiles and food, worth $6 billion (5.63 billion euros) went to Russia. In the first three quarters of 2015, however, overall exports to Russia slumped by 40 percent to $2.7 billion (2.53 euros)
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Energy
Turkey is the second-largest buyer of Russian natural gas after Germany. Ankara is importing 28-30 billion cubic meters (bcm) of its 50 bcm of natural gas needs annually from gas giant Gazprom. Russia also supplies oil and oil products to Turkey.
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Wheat and steel
Turkey together with Egypt is the largest buyer of Russian wheat. It bought 4.1 million tons of Russian wheat in the previous marketing year that ended in June. In addition, Ankara relies strongly on imports of Russian steel and semi-finished metallurgical products.
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Projects
Turkey commissioned Russia's state-owned Rosatom in 2013 to build four 1,200-megawatt nuclear reactors in a project worth $20 billion (18.79 billion euros). Russia and Turkey also have teamed up for the TurkStream pipeline Project, an alternative to Russia's South Stream pipeline to transport gas to Europe without crossing Ukraine. tko/hg (Reuters)
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In the past 10 months, Russia has imported produce and food from Turkey worth over $1 billion (942 million euros), with Turkish vegetables accounting for some 20 percent of Russia's overall vegetables imports.
Russia threatened it could opt to buy produce from alternative nations such as Iran, Israel and Uzbekistan, should food safety violations not stop. Moscow added it might also redirect its Turkish exports - including wheat and oil - to countries in the Middle East and Africa, should relations with Ankara worsen further.
