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Russia extends Western food embargo until end-2017

Wednesday, 29 June 2016 4:58 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 29 June 2016 5:18 PM ]

A worker uses a bulldozer to crush crates of banned foreign peaches outside Novozybkov, Russia, August 7, 2015. ©AFP

Russia has extended until the end of 2017 a ban on food imports from the West, which was imposed in retaliation for anti-Moscow sanctions over the Kremlin’s alleged role in the Ukraine conflict.

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to extend the existing embargo on agricultural produce, dairy, meat and most other foods until December 31, 2017.

In 2014, Russia banned food imports from the EU and some other countries, including the US, in a tit-for-tat move after the West slapped sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine crisis.

Russia’s extension of the bans came a few days after EU ambassadors agreed unanimously to prolong the anti-Russia sanctions until the end of January 2017.

Back in March, Washington also extended its bans against Moscow until March 2017. The Russian Foreign Ministry described the US sanctions as futile, saying the Kremlin is entitled to respond.

The West's sanctions against Russia were initially introduced after the Black Sea Crimean Peninsula declared independence from Ukraine and voted for reunification with the Russian Federation in March 2014.

People hold a huge Russian flag during a rally to celebrate the second anniversary of Crimea’s reunification with Russia in the capital, Moscow, on March 18, 2016. ©AP

Washington and its European allies accuse Moscow of destabilizing Ukraine. Moscow, however, rejects having a hand in the crisis gripping the Eastern European state.

Ukraine's eastern provinces of Donetsk and Lugansk have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Moscow forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations in April 2014 to crush pro-Moscow protests there. The crisis has left around 9,400 people dead and over 22,000 others injured.

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