As a response to further sanctions by the European Union, relating to the conflict in the Ukraine, Russia has announced that it will extend the import ban on food products that has been in place since August 2014, for at least another six months, according to Reuters.
“A proposal (to extend the food ban) has been prepared and submitted to the presidential administration,” Natalya Timakova, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, was quoted as saying by TASS news agency.
“Regarding the list of goods which will continue to be under embargo, it remains virtually unchanged,” she added.
This list includes fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, (including the frozen varieties), milk and dairy from all E.U countries, as well as Norway, Australia, Canada and the U.S.
According to the European Commission, the agri-food producers have been the most affected by the ban, especially the fresh vegetable and fruit farmers and the dairy producers, for whom the Commission released last year hundreds of millions of euros in emergency aid.
The Russian ban on foodstuffs from Europe is expected to last at least until Jan 1st 2016.