Russia Bans Western Food Imports In Ukraine Sanctions Retaliation

Pro-Russian Soldier
A pro-Russian separatist stands at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region July 19, 2014. Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters



NATO's secretary general, visiting Kiev in a show of support for Ukraine, called on Russia to pull back from the brink of war against its neighbor. The Western military alliance says Moscow has massed troops on the border in preparation for a possible ground invasion.

Russian share prices fell after the announcement of Moscow's one year ban on all meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables from the United States, the 28 European Union countries, Canada, Australia and non-EU member Norway.


President Vladimir Putin ordered his government to adopt the measures in retaliation against Western countries which imposed sanctions on Russia's defense, oil and financial sectors over its support for rebels waging an insurrection in east Ukraine.


The announcement saw Russian bond yields rise to their highest levels in years and Moscow's already reeling share prices extend a sell-off.

Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fyodorov acknowledged that the measures would cause a short-term spike in inflation, but said he did not see a danger in the medium or long term. Russia would compensate with more imports from other suppliers such as Brazilian meat and New Zealand cheese.









Moscow may also ban Western airlines from flying transit routes though its air space. This would raise European carriers' fuel costs as their jets fly around Russia on the way to Asia, but would also deprive Moscow of hundreds of millions of dollars in overflight fees.


The rebels in Ukraine are led mainly by Russian citizens and armed with tanks, artillery and other heavy weapons that Kiev and its Western allies say can only have come from Russia.

They have declared independent "people's republics" in two industrial provinces of eastern Ukraine which they call "New Russia" - a term Putin has applied to all of Ukraine's south and east. Here most of the population speaks Russian as a native language, while identifying themselves as Ukrainians.

Sources told Reuters that the main rebel leader in the city of Donetsk, a Russian, may be replaced by one of the separatist commanders who is a local man. Rebels said this was being discussed but could not be confirmed.




Western countries imposed initially mild sanctions on Russia after it annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in March, but tightened them after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down on July 17.




Dutch inspectors are trying to investigate the cause of the disaster and recover any personal effects and remains of bodies of the 298 victims of the crash that might still be left at the site. Their work was halted by fighting in the area, which is near the road linking the two main rebel bastions of Donetsk and Luhansk near the Russian frontier.




