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Politics and sports don’t usually make for a good mix, but sometimes it can make a bit of sense. Professional soccer clubs in Russia have been told by the nation’s government that they won’t be allowed to sign any players from Turkey during the upcoming January Transfer Window next month. Vitaly Mutko, the sports minister of Russia and the Russian Football Union president, confirmed that teams have been banned from signing Turkish players because Turkey recently shot a Russian army jet out of the sky near the Syrian-Turkish border on November 24th.

One of the plane’s pilots died in the attack and a soldier who tried to rescue the pilots was also killed in the aftermath. Mutko was quoted as saying, “I think that if anyone wants to sign a Turkish player during the upcoming transfer window in the winter break, there will not be such a possibility. We don’t need to jump too far ahead, but the teams have already got the message.”

The Russian jet was shot down in late November and Russian President Vladimir Putin retaliated by introducing economic sanctions against Turkey and the ban on signing new soccer players is one of them. However, Mutko stated that any Turkish players who are currently playing in Russia and those who have already signed contracts will be allowed to remain with their teams. In addition, Turkish building companies which have been hired to help construct stadiums for the next World Cup in Russia in 2018 will also be able to complete their work.

The Russian Sports Ministry also told the nation’s soccer clubs that it doesn’t want them to head to Turkey during the winter to hold training camps. The country’s top teams including Spartak Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow, Kuban Krasnodar and FC Krasnodar have taken the warning to heart and have cancelled their planned trips to Turkey. Putin has vowed to hit Turkey where it hurts and that seems to be in the pocket book. He’s announced several types of sanctions against Turkey that are designed to hurt the country economically.