Russia might lift its embargo against certain Western foods

Russia might lift its boycott against certain foreign food products, according to a statement today by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in a conversation with Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev, which was broadcast in part on Russian national television

The media reported earlier that the Agriculture Ministry is drafting a plan to remove the government’s boycott of foreign rainbow trout, oysters, and mussels. According to the newspaper Kommersant, officials are responding to requests from fish farmers in Russia’s southern and north-western regions.

“Look,” Medvedev told Tkachev, “if there’s something we can’t provide ourselves, and here I mean biological materials, then we’ll lift the embargo on those products.”

Interfax

• In early August 2014, Russia imposed a “full embargo” on food imports from the EU, US, and some other Western countries, in response to sanctions over Ukraine. Weeks later, agricultural officials lifted Russia’s boycott on smolt Atlantic salmon.
• On June 5, 2015, the European Union agreed to extend for another year its sanctions against Russia over its absorption of Crimea. The decision will be formalized in the coming days.