This Article is From Nov 27, 2015

Kremlin Cutting Economic Links With the Turks

Kremlin Cutting Economic Links With the Turks

The downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey threatened to lead to a wholesale breach in the countries' relations.

Moscow: The downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey threatened to lead to a wholesale breach in the countries' relations Thursday, with the Kremlin preparing to sever economic ties and Turkish officials saying they had no reason to apologize.

Prime Minister Dmitry A. Medvedev of Russia gave government officials two days to draw up a list of ways to curb economic links and investment projects. That included the possible shelving of a multibillion-dollar deal to build a gas pipeline through Turkey that President Vladimir V. Putin had trumpeted as a welcome alternative route for Russian gas exports to Europe.

Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stoked the confrontation by hurling insults at each other and demanding redress.

"We have still not heard any comprehensible apologies from the Turkish political leaders, or any offers to compensate for the damage caused, or promises to punish the criminals for their crime," Putin said at the Kremlin. He reiterated Russia's position that the warplane was brought down on Tuesday over Syria, not Turkey.

"One gets the impression that the Turkish leaders are deliberately leading Russian-Turkish relations into a gridlock," Putin said, adding later in the day: "Turkey was our friend, almost an ally, and it is a shame that this was destroyed in such a foolish manner."

Moscow and Ankara had already been divided over the future of President Bashar Assad of Syria. Turkey insisted that he step aside, while Russia called Assad a central ally in the fight against Islamic State.

The downing of the Russian plane inflamed that rift. Erdogan maintained Thursday that Turkey was protecting its airspace from Russian incursions. "Faced with the same violation today, Turkey would give the same response," he said. "It's the country that carried out the violation which should question itself and take measures to prevent it from happening again, not the country that was subjected to a violation."

Later, Erdogan appeared to soften his remarks somewhat, telling France 24 television: "We might have been able to prevent this violation of our airspace differently."
© 2015, The New York Times News Service
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