Russian Freight Carriers No Longer Allowed In Poland and Turkey
Russian labor permit agreements in the cargo business with Poland and Turkey have expired. Negotiations to renew them have been unsuccessful for different reasons. Cargo transportation between Russia and the two nations has consequently stopped completely.
Poland has not yet renewed permits for Russian freight forwarders from Kaliningrad due to dissatisfaction with Russia’s new legislative requirements. According to them, conditions for foreign freight companies appeared to be seriously tightened, including penalties and rules for the verification of documents.
Experts from both countries held unsuccessful talks for seven hours on February 1st. The consultations will be further pursued on February 2nd in Moscow at 12:00 Moscow time. Russia did not intend to refuse Polish transit with the new legislative rules. However, representatives from Poland claim that the law may transform from stumbling block into "regular sanctions" against Eastern European countries aimed at "exclusion of Polish transport from Russian routes.”
The term of agreements for Russian freight forwarders has expired in Turkey as well. It is also alleged that the Ministry of Transport of Russian Federation has already submitted a proposal for new permits to Turkey. In fact, Russia will reduce new permits by about 2000 per country. The withdrawal of permits issued to Turkish companies for 2016 has produced no exceptions.
As the Director of the Ministry of Transport of Russia, Maxim Sokolov earlier stated, the amount of road traffic will be reduced "naturally" due to declining trade between both countries. This was one of the consequences of sanctions imposed by Russia against Turkish companies, owing to the recent incident where a Russian frontline bomber was shot down by Turkish air forces on 24 November 2015.