MOSCOW, July 5. /TASS/. In line with the presidential decree, the Russian government extended the embargo on certain types of food from countries that had imposed sanctions on Russia, according to a document, published on the Russian government’s website on Wednesday.
"A ban on imports of certain types of agricultural products, raw materials and food, originating from the United States, European Union countries, Canada, Australia, Norway, Ukraine, Albania, Montenegro, Iceland and Lichtenstein, was extended from January 1 to December 31, 2018," the document reads.
"Those restrictions are intended to expand the special retaliatory economic measures to certain states, taking into account the level of their involvement in the anti-Russian sanctions regime," it reads.
On June 30, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree extending the Russian counter sanctions until December 31, 2018, following the European Union’s move to expand its sanctions on Russia.
The Western sanctions, which were imposed in 2014 amid the political crisis in Ukraine and Crimea’s reunification with Russia, have since been extended on a regular basis. In August 2014, Russia retaliated by imposing a ban on imports of certain types of agricultural products from the countries that joined the sanctions.