MOSCOW, February 29. /TASS/. A potential lifting of the Russian food embargo will not affect agricultural producers but will provide them with additional financial opportunities instead, Russian Minister of Agriculture Alexander Tkachev said on Monday.
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"It seems to me the embargo lifting is not a major threat or a kind of a systemic failure for us because we pretty well understand that the ruble devaluation is main support for Russian agricultural producers," the minister said.
The food embargo lifting will only take place on condition that sanctions against Russia are canceled, Tkachev said. In its turn, this will open access to additional financial resources for the Russian agricultural producers, he added.
At the same time, the opportunity is not ruled out that additional measures will have to be taken to support Russian producers if the food embargo is not lifted, the minister said.
The European Union imposed sanctions on Russia in 2014 and repeatedly extended and renewed them. Russia imposed a ban on import of fruit, vegetables, dairy and meat products as a countermeasure.