Russia’s President Vladimir Putin this Monday extended the embargo on Western perishable foods, in place since 2014, until the end of 2024, according to a decree published this Monday in Moscow.
The embargo restricts the entry into the country of agricultural products, raw materials and foodstuffs from countries that imposed sanctions on Russia following its illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in March 2014.
The decree provides for the extension of the “special economic measures” approved on August 6, 2014, “with the aim of ensuring the security of the Russian Federation.”
The measures will be in force until December 31, 2024, according to the presidential decree cited by the Spanish agency EFE.
Putin, who ordered the annexation of four more Ukrainian regions a year ago, had previously extended the embargo in October 2022, eight months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The West imposed the first sanctions on Russia after the annexation of Crimea, which it strengthened after the outbreak of armed conflict in eastern Ukraine and Moscow’s support for pro-Russian militias in Donetsk and Luhansk.
Russia responded with sanctions restricting imports of a range of goods produced in countries Moscow considers hostile.
At the end of September, Russia annexed the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporijia, in a decision that was also considered illegal by Ukraine and the majority of the international community.
Russia imposed its first food embargo against the European Union, the United States, Australia, Norway and Canada in August 2014.
This was followed in 2015 by Albania, Montenegro, Iceland and Liechtenstein and in 2016 by Ukraine itself.
In addition to meat, dairy products, fish, vegetables and fruit, Moscow also added live pigs and various animal by-products and fats in 2017.
The Russian leader then ordered that all Western perishable products illegally entering the Russian market be destroyed.
Putin admitted that the embargo is actually a protectionist measure to safeguard Russia’s agri-food market, which is unable to compete with Western exports.
Many Russian producers argue that the embargo against the West should remain in place for as long as possible, EFE added.
Source: DN
