Russia expands whitelisted Turkish companies

MOSCOW (AA) – Russian authorities late Monday expanded the whitelisted companies exempted from sanctions on Turkish companies imposed last year in the wake of Turkey shooting down a Russian warplane that had crossed into Turkish airspace.

Russian Prime Dmitry Medvedev signed the decree making the changes, which allows Turkey’s state-owned Ziraat Bank as well as Yapi Kredi Moskova, Is Bank, Garanti Bank-Moscow, Prokommertsbank, and Credit Europe Bank to hire Turkish citizens.

Apart from the banking groups, Turkish contractors such as Ronesans Holding, Gama, Limak, and IC Ictas were added to the whitelisted companies.

Under the decree, most companies which were not previously prohibited from hiring Turkish citizens also will be able to employ new workers so long as they don’t exceed the quotas announced under the decree of December 31, 2015.

The sanctions spring from an incident last November when, after issuing several warnings, Turkey shot down a Russian warplane that had crossed from Syrian into Turkish airspace. The plane’s pilot died.