Russia bans 15 Turkish food products after New Year's day

Russia is banning the import of 15 types of fruits and vegetables from Turkey, including clover, salt, chicken and turkey meat as of Jan. 1, 2016. Russia will apply new economic sanctions as of the beginning of 2016, according to information obtained from official Russian sources, in revenge for the downed Russian military jet that violated Turkey's airspace. However, some Turkish ready-to-wear companies will be exempted, which have had a presence in the country for a long time and conduct a large amount of business there. Following the fighter jet crisis last month, Russia decided to place embargoes on the import of Turkish goods.

According to Turkish Habertürk daily, Russia published the list of those Turkish companies that were exempted from the embargo in the Russian newspaper Kommersant. The list includes Adl, Colin's, DeFacto, Koton, LC Waikiki, Mexx, Marks & Spencer, Banana Republic and The Gap, which are maintaining their exports to Russia. Another brand that was exempted from the embargo is Anadolu Efes.

Most of sanctions to be applied include restrictions on Turkish fruit and vegetables, including tomatoes, oranges, apples, apricots, peaches, cabbage, salt, broccoli, tangerines, cucumbers, pears, plums, grapes, strawberries, onions, clover and chicken and turkey meat. However, other products such as fish, red meat, dairy products and lemons were not embargoed.

Turkey exported around 300,000 tons of tomatoes, 255,000 tons of citrus fruit, 20,000 tons of white meat and 36,000 tons of salt to Russia in the first 10 months of 2015. The export value of the embargoed products is around $764 million annually, totaling 42 percent of Turkish export revenues.

Due to the decrease in oil prices, the inflation rate is under pressure in Russia, and it is expected that these sanctions will increase Russian inflation by at least 0.4 percent. The mutual fund established to promote joint Russian-Turkish projects has been suspended, plus charter flights between Russia and Turkey will be suspended as of Jan. 1, 2016.

It was announced that companies and individuals acting in accordance with Turkish codes in Russia are not allowed to engage in certain businesses. Also, the recruitment of Turkish citizens by Russian companies has been banned as of Jan. 1, 2016. According to the information published on the official website of the Russian government, a total of 53 companies that have yet to be publically announced but operate in Bashkortostan, Crimea, Tatarstan, Krasnodar, Vladimir, Kaluga, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara and Tyumen were excluded from the provisions of the sanctions imposed on Turkey by Russia, meaning they will be allowed to recruit Turkish citizens next year. Kommersant previously announced that Moscow might amend the sanctions that are imposed on Turkey-based companies for certain construction companies operating in Russia. The article quoted two anonymous sources that said Turkish companies including Enka, Rönesans İnşaat, IC Içtas, Ant Yapı, Mebe and Odak Group will be allowed to operate in Russia.

Russians feel poorer due to ailing economy

A study conducted by the Levada Research Center in Russia revealed that the economic status of half of Russian citizens is deteriorating, as announced on Russia's Dozhd TV channel. The opinion survey revealed that 82 percent of the participants acknowledge that there is an economic crisis in Russia, and 62 percent of the participants believe that it will last more than a year.

Furthermore, 44 percent of the participants of the survey stressed that they will delay their major spending, while 48 percent said their economic situation is deteriorating. Only 5 percent replied with "my economic situation is fine," while 21 percent declared that they have been subjected to pay cuts and 30 percent are expecting a pay cut soon. The evaluation of the results of the survey by the research center's experts revealed that all income levels, from low income to high-income levels, are cutting back on their expenses and not overspending.

Another study conducted by the Russian Public Research Center corroborated the results, as according to their research, 47 percent of the Russians surveyed believed that 2015 was worse than 2014 in terms of the economy - which indicates the highest dissatisfaction level since 1998.