Russia extends ban on EU food imports by one year

Russian president Vladimir Putin has confirmed the extension of the retaliatory ban on food imports from European Union (EU) member states for another year.

The move comes days after the EU announced extending its sanctions against Russia regarding its involvement in the Ukraine crisis and its annexation of Crimea.

Russia earlier imposed a ban on the import of food products including meat, fish, fruit, vegetables and milk products from the US, the European Union nations, Norway, Canada and Australia for a year.

Putin was quoted by ABC News as saying: "The government turned to me with an appeal to extend the measures. Just like the head of government proposed, we are extending our retaliatory measures by one year beginning from today."

The EU’s sanctions are expected to translate into limited access on some financial markets for Russia. Several technologies and exchanges in the energy and defence sectors will also be banned.

As a retaliatory measure, besides banning food items, Russia is also considering a ban on chocolates and flowers, said Russian food watchdog spokesman Aleksey Alekseenko in an interview with Gazeta.ru.

Meanwhile, Russian authorities are seeing the extension of the ban as a boon for local markets.

Russia’s agriculture minister Alexander Tkachev said: "The extension of sanctions is a balm to our souls.

"We are seeing more Russian-made foods on the shelves of our stores."

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Image: Russia’s ban included food products such as meat, fish, fruit, vegetables and milk products. Photo: courtesy of zirconicusso/freedigitalphotos.net.