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MOSCOW – Russia will ban fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, milk and dairy imports from the United States, the European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told a government meeting on Thursday.
Stepping up its response to more biting Western sanctions for its support for separatist rebels in Ukraine, though Moscow’s measures could be rebounding on its own economy. The Russian central bank warned on Tuesday that the ban on importing such cheap products could make it harder to control inflation.
The decision follows a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin ordering the government to ban or limit food imports from countries that imposed sanctions on Moscow.
“There is nothing good in sanctions and it wasn’t an easy decision to take, but we had to do it,” Medvedev said.
Moscow’s trade bans follow new sanctions against Russia’s banking and energy sector imposed by the West, which accuses the Kremlin of financing and supplying arms to rebels in eastern Ukraine who are fighting for independence from the government in Kiev.
Moscow has never directly linked its trade bans to the Western sanctions, but few doubt they are retaliation amid the worst crisis in relations with the West since Soviet times.
The ban is valid from today, August 7 and will last for one year, Medvedev said.
Tinaye Agere
Online Reporter