How Russia could quietly retaliate against Turkey

(Image credit: Alexei Nikolsky/AFP/Getty Images)

published 24 November 2015

There's no doubt in one security expert's mind that Russian President Vladimir Putin will exact revenge against Turkey for downing a Russian warplane near the Syrian border. The real question, according to Nihat Ali Özca at the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey, is how:

It is very bad news for Turkey that a Russian jet was shot down. Putin will not leave this unanswered, he might retaliate in different ways, for example by cutting off Turkey’s natural gas supply from Russia over the winter. He might also choose to reply in kind, in a similarly aggressive manner in Syria. But one thing is certain: Putin will not stand for this, we have difficult days ahead of us. [The Guardian]

The option with the least fanfare — cutting off Turkey's supply of natural gas — could still seriously sting. Turkey gets "60 percent of its natural gas" from Russia, the country's "second-largest trading partner," The Guardian reports. With Turkey's "growing economy and little of its own energy supplies to fuel it," The New York Times reports that Turkey is heavily reliant — almost dependent — on Russia for natural gas imports.