Government meeting
Excerpt from Dmitry Medvedev’s opening remarks:
Government meeting
The Government has signed a resolution expanding the list of countries subject to Russia’s retaliatory economic measures. Now the food import ban introduced last August against the European Union states, Australia, Canada, Norway and the United States has been expanded to include several other countries, specifically Albania, Montenegro, Iceland and Liechtenstein, as well as Ukraine on special terms.
These countries joined the European Union’s decision to extend the anti-Russian sanctions. They explain their decision by the fact that they are obliged to impose these sanctions due to various kinds of agreements with the European Union, but this position is only partly true. A number of states that have similar agreements with the EU have not adopted the anti-Russian sanctions.
Therefore, joining the sanctions is a conscious choice, which shows their readiness for Russia’s response. These measures have now been taken. As for Ukraine, the ban on agricultural imports will enter into force only if its government should implement the economic part of the EU Association Agreement, which Kiev signed in June 2014. We agreed to give some time (until 1 January 2016) to resolve issues of economic regulation. After this period, if we cannot reach an agreement, with the EU as the mediator, and there have been no signs of this so far – the previously adopted documents will enter into force, which set a regular trade regime and food embargoes for Ukraine.
