UrBC, Moscow, November 27, 2015. Russian customs points are screening 100% of cargo arriving from Turkey starting from November 26, Interfax reports.

This 100% screening works both ways and applies to goods getting exported from Russia to Turkey as well.

‘It is reported off the record that a cargo manifest that says ‘Turkey’ in Fields 2, 11, 15, 16, or 34 will automatically be turned down at the customs point. The same sanctions apply to cargo transported by a Turkish freight forwarder,’ companies working with Smolensk Customs informed their employees on November 26.

A Russian fighter plane was downed by the Turkish air forces at the Turkish-Syrian border on November 24. Both Russian and Turkish officials made some hard-line statements on the incident, although no economic bans relating to doing business with Turkey were officially announced.

In the meantime, Rosselkhoznadzor (the agricultural safety agency) said poultry from a particular Turkish company would not be imported to Russia after December 1 since it was found to contain listeria monocytogene.

Now Turkey brings over 360,000 kg of tomatoes and 250,000 kg of citrus fruits to Russia every year and is responsible for 20% of imported vegetables on the Russian market. All in all, Turkish foods made 4% of all the food items imported to Russia last year.