Russia cancels nuclear training deal with Turkey

Russia has cancelled a multibillion dollar deal with Ankara aimed at helping Turkey develop its first nuclear power plant.

According to the Anadolu Agency the deal, signed on April 13 last year, would have envisaged 1,000 nuclear engineers being trained in both countries, six months in Ankara and a year in Moscow. 

However due to the fallout in relations between the two countries due to the shooting down of a Russian jet by Turkey near the Syrian border in November Russia has cancelled the plan.

As part of the $20 billion deal Russia's National Research Nuclear University (MEPhI) was to initiate training programs in four Turkish universities to give the Turks the know-how to run Akkuyu, Turkey's first nuclear power plant which is being built in the country's southern province of Mersin.