Exporters from European Union countries managed to adapt to Russian counter-sanctions and find alternative markets. told Interfax on Thursday. The representative of the head of European diplomacy, Maja Kotsjancic,

“Despite the nine months during which Russian restrictive measures last, total exports of food and agricultural products to third countries increased by 5%,” Kocjancic said.

She said that alternative markets have been found in the European Union.

The EU representative also pointed out that the retaliatory sanctions imposed by Russia against Western countries are counterproductive and deal a strong blow to the Russian market and consumers.

“Regarding the Russian response to ban imports of food and agricultural products from the EU, economic studies show that the Russian market and consumers have suffered greatly from these counterproductive measures, while European exporters of agricultural and food products have found alternative markets,” Kocjancic said .

On June 22, the Foreign Ministers of the European Union extended economic sanctions against Russia until January 31, 2016. The EU has introduced restrictive measures against the Russian Federation due to “Russia’s destabilizing role in eastern Ukraine.”

On June 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin extended the food embargo for a year, which was adopted as a response to EU economic sanctions.

The Russian government on Thursday approved a list of goods prohibited for import from Western countries. The list includes livestock products, cattle meat, pork, food by-products, fish and crustaceans, as well as milk and dairy products, vegetables, and sausages. The changes affected biomaterials, fry and larvae for breeding fish and oysters; in the new list, restrictions do not apply to them.

The EU announced the adaptation of European exporters to counter-sanctions