BRUSSELS, October 22. /TASS/. The European Commission (EC) has amended its 2015 draft budget over Russia’s food embargo, the EC said on Wednesday.

“The approach for financing the agriculture crisis measures following the Russian embargo is consistent with the budgetary rules, the political circumstances and the serious shortage of payments that we are facing,” the European Commission said in a statement.

"The EU's 2014 surplus stands at €465 million and its integration in the 2015 budget will help reduce the appropriations requested for the European Agriculture Guarantee Fund both in commitments and payments,” the statement said.

Russia introduced a package of counter-measures on August 7 in retaliation to the sanctions imposed by the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union and Norway against Moscow over its stance on developments in neighboring Ukraine.

Russia’s counter-sanctions involve a one-year ban on food and agricultural imports from the countries that slapped sanctions against Moscow. The European Commission stated several times since August it will allocate funds to support European agricultural producers affected by Russia’s food embargo.