MOSCOW, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Russia will not lift all the bans on the imports of Turkish food products in the near future, head of Rosselkhoznadzor, Russian agricultural watchdog, Sergey Dankvert said in an interview with Russian newspaper Izvestia published on Wednesday.
"The import of the part of the products has already been allowed. The other part is banned by us and by the government of Russia," Dankvert said in the interview.
"There will be no mass opening of access for the Turkish companies to the Russian market. But in general, we are not against Turkish products. Some of the banned products are still reaching the Russian market through third countries, like Mali or Uganda," he said.
In the beginning of 2016, Russia imposed a number of restrictive measures on Turkey, including a ban on Turkish food and flowers in response to the downing of a Russian military aircraft by a Turkish fighter jet in Syria on November 24, 2015.
In June 2016 the two sides began a reconciliation process following Turkey's apology for the incident, with Russia gradually lifting its economic restrictions on the country.
On October 10, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the removal of embargo on Turkish fresh and dried oranges, tangerines, peaches, nectarines, plums and sloes.
The imports of tomatoes, apples, strawberries, zucchinis, pumpkins and most poultry products from Turkey are still banned.
