Russia is suspending its visa-free regime with Turkey from January 1, 2016, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. The announcement comes in response to the downing of a Russian warplane by the Turkish Air Force earlier this week, rt.com reports
“We have decided to suspend the visa-free regime between Russia and Turkey. This decision will come into force on January 1,” Lavrov said on Thursday, after a meeting in Moscow with his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem.
Real warning
Lavrov also called the suspension of visa-free travel between Russia and Turkey “not an empty threat but a real warning.”
Turkey has established a flow of militants in different directions, Lavrov also said, stressing that Turkish authorities are not willing to cooperate on the issue of sharing information about Russian citizens on its territory.
“This year, Russia requested information about its citizens detained in Turkey on suspicion of terrorist activities. All requests were left without response,” the foreign minister said during the press conference.
Deportations
At the same time, according to Lavrov, 200 Russian citizens were deported from Turkey in 2015 for alleged engagement in illegal activities.
“Despite the [existing] agreements, Russia was informed in advance about the deportations only in seven cases. In all other cases, people were deported without notifying Russia, with some of them being sent to other countries, including those that pursue an unfriendly policy towards Russia,” he said.
According to Lavrov, Russia will insist on adding the militant group responsible for killing the pilot of the downed Russian bomber to the official list of terrorist groups in Syria. The list is due to be drafted by the International Syria Support Group for approval by the UN Security Council.
Intergovernmental agreement
The militants responsible for the death of the Russian Marine killed during the rescue operation in Syria should also be included in this list, Lavrov added.
Visa-free travel between Russia and Turkey was introduced in April 2011 following an intergovernmental agreement.
It allowed Russian citizens to stay in Turkey for 30 days without a visa and vice versa.
