Russia ending last remaining sanctions on Turkey

Russia ending last remaining sanctions on Turkey
President Vladimir Putin has said the final sanctions on Turkey will end, as the two countries patch up differences following Ankara's downing of a Russian war plane.
2 min read
Putin and Erdogan are ending the two countries' fracas [Getty]

Russia and Turkey will lift all remaining sanctions on each party, which have been in place since Ankara downed a Russian warplane in 2015 on the Syria border.

The event led to an intense stand off between the two countries with Moscow and Ankara launching retaliatary sancions against one another.

Following an attempted coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan relations improved.

President Vladimir Putin was one of the first world leaders to call the Turkish leader to offer his support, and the stand off began to end.

Now it appears the final sanctions between the two sides will come to an end.

"You asked when we can speak about the lifting of the restrictions that emerged some time ago. We can speak of that today," Putin said at a news conference alongside his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

"We agreed on a comprehensive solution to all these problems linked to the restrictions."

Among the sanctions Moscow slapped on Ankara was an embargo on some Turkish food products, and a ban on charter flights and package holidays to Turkey.

The action was said to have had a big impact on Turkey's already struggling tourism industry, hit hard by a series of terrorist attacks.

On Wednesday, Putin said his country's embargo on the import of Turkish tomatoes and visa restrictions on Turkish nationals will remain in place for the time being. 

"Now we can say with certainty that the recovery period in Russo-Turkish relations is over," the Kremlin strongman said. "We are returning to a normal cooperation partnership." 

Putin last year ordered that the government normalise trade ties with Turkey as he lifted the ban on the sale of packages tours to the country.