Putin bans imports in sanctions battle

Russia is banning imports of food and agricultural products from countries that have imposed sanctions on it over the Ukraine conflict.

Russian President Vladimir Putin

(File: AAP)

President Vladimir Putin has banned or limited food and agricultural product imports for a year from nations that have imposed sanctions on Russia over its stance on Ukraine.

The Kremlin said in a statement on Wednesday that Putin's executive decree "either bans or limits... the import into the Russian Federation of certain kinds of agricultural products, raw materials and food originating from countries that have decided to adopt economic sanctions against Russian entities and individuals".

Government spokeswoman Natalia Timakova told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency that ministers were currently drafting the list of goods intended for future import restriction.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Alexei Likhachyov separately told the Interfax news agency that his draft of the list was already completed.

State statistics show Russia having imported about a third of its food from abroad in the past decade.

Some of those deliveries come from ex-Soviet nations with strong ties to Moscow.

Russia has already halted some food imports from a range of European countries and has threatened to limit the amount of chicken products it buys from the United States.

But Moscow had previously denied that the measures were in any way linked to punishing new financial restrictions imposed by EU nations and the US on top state companies and officials with close links to Putin.

The punitive steps forbid companies in Europe and the US from striking future deals in Russia's vital oil and arms sectors.

Top state-held firms have seen their access to Western borrowing markets severely restricted and face a possible freeze on trade of their shares on both European and New York exchanges.

The Western sanctions are expected to send Russia's fragile economy to the brink of a recession by the end of the year, but have thus far failed to soften Putin's approach to Ukraine.


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