MOSCOW, August 20. /ITAR-TASS/. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has approved amendments to the country’s imports ban to exclude hatchlings, lactose-free milk and dairy products, seeds, biologically active additives and vitamins from the list, according to a ruling published on the government’s Web site on Wednesday.

The Russian government has excluded BAAs and vitamins from the list of Russian sanctions imposed against food imports from the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia and Norway. Food supplements, vitamins and minerals, flavor additives, protein concentrates (of animal and plant origin) and their mixtures, dietary fibers and food additives have been excluded from the Russian sanctions list.

A few days earlier, the Russian Health Ministry sent a list of vitamins registered as medical drugs to the Russian government with a request to exclude them from a list of foods and food products banned from imports into Russia as part of the sanctions regime. The food products ban applied mostly to vitamins registered as biologically active additives (BAAs) as well as specialized foods meant for people suffering from diseases like diabetes.

On August 7, Russia banned imports of beef, pork, poultry, fish, cheese, dairy products, fruit and vegetables from Australia, Canada, Norway, the US and the EU for one year as an answer to the Western sanctions.