ASTANA, December 13. /TASS/. The best way to ease tensions in relations between Russia and Turkey is negotiations, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev said in an interview with national television channels on Sunday.
"The best way out is a negotiating process, consensus. I think it is in the interests of both states, as well as in Kazakhstan’s interests," he said.
Nazarbayev said the strain in relations between Russia and Turkey was telling on Kazakhstan. "Of course, we are worried over that, very worries," he said. "Russia is our closest neighbor and ally. We are members of the Eurasian Economic Union."
At the same time, he noted, his country "has good relations" with Turkey too. The current confrontation "is beneficial for no one, neither for Russia, nor for Turkey," the Kazakh president said.
The crisis in relations between Moscow and Ankara followed the November 24 incident when a Turkish fighter jet gunned down a Russian Su-24 bomber returning from an anti-terrorist mission in Syria. Following the incident, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Turkey’s attack on the Russian warplane would have "very serious consequences" for the bilateral relations. On November 28, the Russian president signed a decree on measure to ensure Russia’s national security and protect Russian nationals from criminal and other illegal actions and on the use of special economic measures in respect of Turkey.
Thus, the decree imposed visa travel from January 1, 2016, banned charter flights between Russia and Turkey and bound Russian travel operators not to sell travel packages to Turkey. Visa restrictions however will not be applicable to Turkish citizens who have temporary sojourn permits or leaves to remain in Russia and those commissioned to work at diplomatic missions. Apart from that, the Russian government imposed a ban on imports of a number of Turkish food products and suspended visa-free travel with that country from January 1, 2016.