Tensions are still high between Turkey and Russia after the incident, which took place on Tuesday, of the shooting down of two Russian fighter planes by the Turkish air force on the border with Syria. On the one hand, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he wants to meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Paris, on the sidelines of the climate conference that opens over the weekend, and on the other warns that Moscow "must not play with fire". In response, the Kremlin let it be known that the president did not speak to Erdogan because on the Turkish side there was not the slightest willingness to "present the most basic apologies".
Confirming the climate of very high tension, Ankara has temporarily suspended military flights over Syria within the international anti-ISIS coalition. The newspaper reveals it today Hurriyet, citing anonymous sources of Ankara diplomacy. According to the newspaper, the decision was taken in agreement with Russia to avoid the risk of new accidents. The stoppage could last until Ankara and Moscow reopen channels of dialogue, including a "hotline" for the transmission of military communications deemed necessary to prevent possible further episodes of tension at the border.
Meanwhile the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the Russian president Vladimir Putin just seven or eight hours after the Russian Su-24 fighter-bomber was shot down over Syria. In any case, Erdogan reiterated that he "does not want to jeopardize relations" with Russia, but has invited the Kremlin not to "play with fire". The Turkish leader pointed out that what happened was not "intentional" but due to "the automatic application of the rules of engagement". Erdogan accused Putin of having uttered "unacceptable words" towards Turkey and of "aiming to extend the dispute over the downed fighter to other sectors". The Turkish president has dismissed as "slander" the Moscow's accusations, according to which Ankara clandestinely buys oil from ISIS, and has indeed overturned them, arguing that the United States "has documented evidence of the sale" of hydrocarbons to the Syrian regime by ISIS itself and even "Russian companies".
Meanwhile, Moscow continues its retaliation, announcing the end of the “Visa free” regime: from 2016 January XNUMX, Turkish citizens who want to enter Russia will need a specific visa. Russia has also announced the preparation of economic measures against Turkey: Moscow will tighten controls on imports of Turkish foodstuffs and - with a timing that leaves little doubt about the political motivations - denounces that 15% of these products do not comply with its health regulations. Moscow also threatens to block the flow of Russian tourists (worth 4 billion dollars a year) and flights to and from Turkey, but also freeze or even blow up the Turkish Stream pipeline project and that, worth 20 billion dollars, for the Akkuiu nuclear power plant. Further proof of the fact that good blood does not flow between Moscow and Ankara is the treatment reserved by the Russian authorities to a group of about 50 Turkish businessmen, arrested in Krasnodar on the specious accusation of having lied about the reason for their entry into the country.
In addition to diplomatic and economic tensions, there is also the danger of military action. She hinted that Chairman of the Duma, Sergei Naryshkin, in an interview with Romanian TV Digi24: “This was a deliberate murder of our military and must be punished; we know who did it and why he must be held accountable. Russia has the right to a military response."
