Russia orders retaliatory economic measures against Turkey over jet

NOV 26, 201510:20 PM

[MOSCOW] Russia is preparing a raft of retaliatory economic measures against Turkey after Ankara downed one of its warplanes, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday.

"The government has been ordered to work out a system of response measures to this act of aggression in the economic and humanitarian spheres," Medvedev told a cabinet meeting in televised comments.

He said the broad punitive steps could include halting joint economic projects, restricting financial and trade transactions and changing customs duties.

Measures would also target the tourism and transport sectors, labour markets and "humanitarian contacts", Medvedev said.

"I propose doing all this in a period of two days so that we can move to setting up the appropriate procedures as quickly as possible," Medvedev told government ministers.

Tensions have soared between Moscow and Ankara following the downing of the Russian jet on the Syrian border on Tuesday.

Moscow has already warned its nationals against visiting Turkey and stepped up controls of Turkish agricultural imports.

AFP