Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Nov. 25 that Russia may consider cancelling some important joint projects with Turkey after the downing of the Russian jet by Turkish F-16’s near the Syrian border on Nov. 24.
Turkish companies could lose Russian market share due to the incident, Medvedev said in a statement published on the government website, barring Turkish companies from the Russian market.
“The recklessly criminal actions by the Turkish authorities that shot down a Russianaircraft have led to three consequences. The first is a dangerous aggravation of Russian-NATO relations, which cannot be justified by any rationale, including state border protection. Second, Turkey has demonstrated by its actions that it is, in effect, defending the ISIS [using an alternative acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] terrorists, which is not surprising, given the available information that certain Turkish officials have direct financial interest in deliveries of oil products from ISIS-owned facilities,” Medvedev said.
Russia may even scrap big energy projects with Turkey, such as the Turkey’s first nuclear power plant for which Russia has been contracted to build.
“And third, long-standing friendly relations between Russia and Turkey, including economic and cultural relations, have been undermined. This damage will be difficult to repair. The direct consequences are likely to be the renunciation of a number of important joint projects and the loss by Turkish companies of their positions in theRussian market,” Medvedev added.
Turkey commissioned Russia’s state-owned Rosatom in 2013 to build four 1,200-megawatt reactors in a project worth $20 billion.
Russia and Turkey are also working on the Turkish Stream pipeline project, an alternative to Russia’s South Stream pipeline, which was to transport gas to Europewithout crossing Ukraine. The South Stream plan was dropped last year due to objections from the European Commission.
