Russia: Vladimir Putin extends food embargo against the EU and other countries

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Russia's President Vladimir Putin

Photo: Alexei Druzhinin / AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a decree extending the embargo against food from Germany and dozen other countries by another year until December 31, 2022.

It was a reaction to the anti-Russian sanctions of the EU and other countries, it said in the decision published on Monday.

The import ban imposed for the first time in August 2014 on dairy products, meat, fruit and vegetables from the EU, for example, was a reaction to the punitive measures taken by the West against Russia in the wake of the conflict in Ukraine.

It is about protecting Russia's national interests.

The USA, Canada and Australia are also affected

Putin had repeatedly said that the embargo also helped to improve self-sufficiency - in the dairy industry, for example - so as to be less dependent on imports.

In addition to the EU, the embargo also affects the USA, Australia, Canada and Ukraine.

Despite the import ban, many products from the West come to Russia indirectly and via smuggling.

Cheese from France and Italy, for example, are in great demand, for which customers in Moscow, for example, spend a lot of money.

As a deterrent to black market trade, Russia has already had tons of food destroyed.

Russian consumers, however, complain about high prices and the sometimes inferior quality of local food.

According to experts, the elimination of foreign competition leads to the formation of monopolies and the price of Russian food to rise.

muk / dpa