RIGA, August 12. /ITAR-TASS/. Latvia will suffer 55 million euro damage from Russia’s embargo on food imports from the European Union, Latvian Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma said here on Tuesday.

“If we look at last year’s export volume in the sectors affected by the sanctions, the planned losses are assessed at some 55 million euro. The dairy industry will account for half of the losses - it will be affected the most. Though, the finance minister said earlier, Latvia’s economy as a whole will not suffer considerable damage. But separate sectors, dairy, in particular, will suffer serious losses,” she said on Latvian television.

According to the prime minister, Moscow’s response to Western sanctions will also damage allied industries. “The railways minister said that damage in the allied industries could amount to some 20 million euro, it will also affect transit services,” Straujuma said.

These are preliminary estimates, she added. The specific figures will be known in the near future.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 6 issued a decree, banning or limiting for one year the import of agricultural products, raw materials and food from the countries that supported economic sanctions against Russia. The president instructed the government to compile the list of products the import of which will be limited or banned, as well as called for taking measures for checking food prices.

Russian government’s resolution, signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on August 7, says that Russia introduces the total ban on the supplies of beef, pork, cheeses, poultry, milk and fish from the EU countries, from the United States, Australia, Canada and Norway.

The import restriction was Russia’s first response measure to sanctions, imposed on it over the Ukrainian developments by the United States, European Union, Canada and Japan.