Russia's Putin lifts restrictions on hiring Turks

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has lifted restrictions on hiring Turkish workers and on Turkish firms operating in Russia, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, under a deal to mend relations hurt by Turkey's downing of a Russian jet in 2015.

Putin also partially restored a mutual agreement on the movement of each country's citizens that was suspended after Turkey shot down the plane near the Syrian border, the Kremlin added.

The Russian leader agreed to lift some of the restrictions after meeting his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan in early May.

Russia is still keeping a ban on Turkish tomato imports, in the face of a Turkish proposal to lift the bar outside the Russian growing season.

In response, Ankara imposed prohibitively high import tariffs on Russian wheat from mid-March, but resumed purchases after the presidents' meeting on May 3.