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Russia extends food embargo until 2020

The food embargo will stay in force until December 31, 2020

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Astakhov/Russian Government Press Office/TASS

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev

© Dmitry Astakhov/Russian Government Press Office/TASS

MOSCOW, June 26. /TASS/. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree on extension of the food embargo until December 31, 2020. The document was published on the official website of legal information on Wednesday.

The food embargo has been in force in Russia since August 7, 2014 regarding products from the US, the EU, Australia, Norway and Canada, later the list was expanded with other European countries and Ukraine.

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Russia’s agriculture minister expects food embargo to be in effect until 2020

"In item 1 the words "until December 31, 2019" should be replaced with the words "until December 31, 2020"," the decree said.

On Monday, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on extension until December 31, 2020 of separate special economic measures against countries that imposed anti-Russia sanctions.

In March 2014, the European Union and a number of countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, New Zealand and Iceland, began to impose sanctions against Russia over the situation in Ukraine. In response, Russian President signed a decree "On imposing separate special economic measures ensuring security for the Russian Federation" on August 6, 2014. On the following day, the government imposed restrictions on imports of certain goods from the US, the European Union, Norway, Australia and Canada based on that document. After EU countries extended anti-Russia sanctions on June 22, 2015, Putin signed a decree extending the embargo for another year on June 24. Later it was prolonged twice, most recently on July 12, 2018 - by the end of 2019.

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