EKATERINBURG, September 19. /TASS/. The Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade does not rule out the possibility of introducing restrictions on the export of strategic raw materials, First Deputy Minister Vasily Osmakov told reporters.
"If we can actually find some balanced solutions in terms of restricting exports, then we will implement them," he said, answering a question about Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal to the government to consider the possibility of restricting the export of certain types of strategic raw materials, such as uranium, titanium or nickel.
Osmakov noted that the Ministry of Industry and Trade regularly develops measures to counter sanctions pressure on Russia. "In particular, since 2022, several packages of increased tariffs have been introduced as part of counter-sanctions measures. For example, individual codes for cosmetics and chemical products," he noted.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier in an interview with TV journalist Pavel Zarubin that a possible limitation on Russia’s exports of strategic raw materials - uranium, titanium, nickel - would be a forced response to the thuggish actions of the West, which is increasingly increasing anti-Russian sanctions. "We need to respond to not just unfriendly, but thuggish actions against us," he said.
He also noted that possible restrictions on Russia's exports of strategic raw materials will be done with caution so as not to harm the Russian economy.
Peskov also said that possible restrictions on exports of Russian strategic raw materials may have a positive impact on the Russian economy and spur technological development. "When we decided to introduce a food embargo, we cut off supplies of Western food, which was, of course, risky. But in the end, after ten years, we came to the conclusion that we had completely replaced the whole range with our own food products," he said.