Russia to extend Western food ban to 2018: Dmitry Medvedev

Russia plans to extend its embargo on Western food products by a year and a half, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Friday as the European Union prepares to debate renewing sanctions against Moscow.

"I have ordered proposals to be drawn up to extend the retaliatory measures not by a year but until the end of 2017," Medvedev said in comments released by the government.

The measure, which would have to be approved by President Vladimir Putin, is aimed at boosting Russia's agricultural sector.

Since August 2014, Moscow has banned most food imports from Western countries, particularly from the European Union, which has imposed sanctions on Russia for its 2014 annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in east Ukraine...
  [ AFP -i24news.tv]
27/5/16