ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane near the Syrian border has put a strain on the peace talks for Syria and frayed ties, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.
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Turkey shot down the jet last week, saying it violated Turkish airspace despite numerous warnings. Turkish leaders have said they will not apologize for the shoot-down, which killed a Russian pilot and a Russian marine trying to rescue the other pilot.
Russia has imposed sanctions against Turkish products and said Turkey shot down the plane to protect what President Vladimir Putin has described as Turkish profiteering from oil trade with the Islamic State group. Turkey has denied those claims.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova said the dispute will complicate the peace talks for Syria that are taking place in Vienna.
Russia has said the talks can't progress until all parties agree on which opposition groups should be covered by a possible cease-fire and which should be targeted by airstrikes.
Zakharova said Moscow is more determined than ever to get other parties to agree on a list of terrorist groups in Syria before the next round of talks. Without that, Zakharova said, a joint action in Syria would not be possible.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday signed into law a set of sanctions including restrictions on Turkish labor and some import bans. Although Russia banned imports of Turkish staples such as tomatoes, the ban did not cover nuts and lemons, for which Russia relies almost entirely on Turkey. The food ban will go into effect Jan. 1.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged Turkey and Russia to set aside tensions and focus on the common priority of defeating the Islamic State.
In a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Paris, Obama vouched for the NATO ally's right to self-defense and pledged a solid U.S. commitment "to Turkey's security and its sovereignty." But he emphasized the need for Turkey and Russia to "de-escalate" their conflict.
"We all have a common enemy. That is ISIL," Obama said, using an acronym for the extremist group. "I want to make sure that we focus on that threat."
On Tuesday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu accused Russia of trying to "cover up" its infringement of Turkey's airspace with "unfounded" claims that Turkey is illegally importing oil from the Islamic State. Erdogan has said he is prepared to step down if Russia can prove otherwise.
"It is not possible to cover up the violation of the Turkish airspace with unfounded accusations against Turkey," Davutoglu said.
Davutoglu at the same time renewed a call for Russia to keep military and diplomatic channels for dialogue open, saying Russia's stance was turning the Syrian crisis into a "crisis between Russia and Turkey."
Zakharova said Russia had gathered intelligence in the past about Turkey buying oil from the Islamic State but that it preferred not to publicize it.
"We had this information before and we were working with our partners, with Turkey, with the coalition, with our Western colleagues on this matter, but we didn't do it publicly," she said. "We tried many times to convince them to change their approach to this matter, to their relationship with various organizations."
Meanwhile, the Russian Education Ministry said it would repatriate "as soon as possible" Turkish students who are studying in Russia.
The ministry also announced that nearly 50 Russian universities were suspending their cooperation agreements with Turkish counterparts.
Information for this article was contributed by Kate de Pury of The Associated Press.
A Section on 12/02/2015