UrBC, Moscow, July 26, 2019. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the Executive Order On Cancelling Certain Special Economic Measures Against the Turkish Republic; the order is now available at pravo.gov.ru.

Under the terms of the order, the agreement on the Russian and Turkish nationals’ travel to and from the two countries which Russian Federation Government and the Turkish Republic Government signed on May 12, 2010 partially comes into effect again.

The agreement was halted on January 1, 2016 in terms of how freely Turkish nationals with regular travel passports could come to Russia; the so-called service passport holders could still enter Russia on short business trips.

Now under the terms of the new order, both Turkish nationals with service passports and those with special-purpose passports may enter Russia freely, regardless of what the purpose of their visit may be.

The restrictions got imposed at the time during a Moscow-Ankara diplomatic crisis caused by the Turkish air force shooting down the Russian strike aircraft SU 24 in Syria’s air space. On November 28, 2015, President Putin signed the Executive Order On Measures to Ensure the National Security of the Russian Federation and the Protection of Citizens of the Russian Federation against Criminal and Other Illegal Acts and on the Application of Special Economic Measures Against the Turkish Republic.