Russia plans to ban all Turkish vegetables and fruits

MOSCOW, Nov. 29, 2015 (Xinhua) — A woman selects Turkish grapefruit in a supermarket in Moscow, Russia, on Nov. 29, 2015. The Russian government on Thursday tightened control over imports of farm products from Turkey as ties between the two countries plummeted after the downing of a Russian warplane. (Xinhua/Dai Tianfang)

Rosselkhoznadzor – Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance plans to ban vegetables and fruit imports from Turkey after May 16.

Deputy head of Rosselkhoznadzor, Yulia Shvabauskene, said that agency works on this issue seriously, “they continue to find Turkish food products that need to be quarantined,” Interfax reported.

The head of Rosselkhoznadzor Sergey Dankvert said, “There are only marrows, grapefruits and lemons left, but we assess it as useless and on Monday we will ban all the agricultural products,” and he mentioned available problems with Turkish suppliers, “We have worked with them for a long time, but the situation does not change, today there was another violation: 50 tons of marrows were stopped in Krasnodar,” Vestnik Kavkaza reports.

The relations between Turkey and Russia have worsened since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane in November 2015 for violating Turkish airspace. Turkey declares that it is ready to normalize relations in all areas. Russia needs to use the Turkish Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits. The commander clarified that relations continue on the military level.