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Russia bans food imports from Canada, US, EU in response to sanctions

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NotTheGuyYouKill

Member
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russia...m-canada-other-countries-for-1-year-1.2729821

Russia is responding to fresh sanctions from Canada, the U.S. and other countries with a ban on food imports for a year.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev says the ban covers Canada, the U.S. the European Union, Australia, Norway and covers:

Meat.
Fish.
Milk and milk products.
Fruit and vegetables.
The move announced Thursday was taken on orders from President Vladimir Putin in response to sanctions imposed over the crisis in Ukraine. The ban will cost farmers in North America, Europe and Australia billions of dollars but also isolates Russian consumers from world trade to a degree unseen since Soviet days.
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Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fyodorov acknowledged that the measures would cause a short-term spike in inflation, but said he did not see a danger in the medium or long term. He said Russia would compensate with more imports of products from other suppliers such as Brazilian meat and New Zealand cheese.

Russia depends heavily on imported foodstuffs — most of it from the West — particularly in the largest and most prosperous cities such as Moscow. In 2013 the EU's agricultural exports to Russia totalled $15.8 billion US, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture says food and agricultural imports from the U.S. amounted to $1.3 billion.

Medvedev argued that the ban would give Russian farmers, who have struggled to compete with Western products, a good chance to increase their market share.

But experts said that local producers will find it hard to fill the gap left by the ban, as the nation's agricultural sector has continued to suffer from poor efficiency and shortage of funds.

While the government claimed it will move quickly to replace Western imports by importing more food from Latin America, Turkey and ex-Soviet nations to avoid empty shelves and price hikes, analysts predicted that it will further speed up inflation.

Chris Weafer, an analyst at Macro Advisory in Moscow, said the ban will likely speed up inflation and further cloud an already grim economic outlook. "Along with higher interest rates, higher food costs will mean that households have less money to spend and that will depress the economy," he said.

Market watchers said consumers in the expensive food segment will suffer the most, losing access to goods like French cheeses and Parma ham, but others will also eventually feel the brunt as food variety will shrink and inflationary pressures increase. With retail chains stocked up for months ahead, the ban will take time to hurt, however.

The measure led to sardonic comments across Russian online media and liberal blogs, bringing reminiscences of empty store shelves during the Soviet times, but there was no immediate indication of consumers trying to stock up.
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The damage to consumers inflicted by the ban will be felt particularly hard in big cities like Moscow, where imported food fills an estimated 60-70 per cent of the market.

Russians have relished imported food since the fall of the Soviet Union, when year-round supplies of fresh fruit and vegetables arrived and ubiquitous cheap American frozen chicken quarters became known as "Bush's legs" after the then president.

Medvedev said Russia is also considering banning Western carriers from flying over Russia on flights to and from Asia — a move that would significantly swell costs and increase flight time. He said a decision on that hasn't been made yet.

Protesters hold a Molotov cocktail during clashes with pro-government forces at Independence Square in Kyiv on Thursday. Tensions flared in the square, the scene of street protests that toppled a Moscow-backed president in February, when protesters still camped there clashed with city workers who tried to clear away their tents.

Russia may also introduce restrictions regarding imports of planes, navy vessels and cars, Medvedev said, but added that the government will realistically assess its own production potential.

Medvedev made it clear that Russia hopes that the sanctions will make the West revise its policy and stop trying to pressure Russia with sanctions.

"We didn't want such developments, and I sincerely hope that our partners will put a pragmatic economic approach above bad policy considerations," he said, adding that the ban could be lifted earlier if the West shows a "constructive approach."

If the West doesn't change course, Russia may follow up by introducing restrictions regarding imports of planes, navy vessels, cars and other industrial products, Medvedev warned, but added that the government will move carefully.

"The government understands how important such co-operation is, and naturally, we have a realistic assessment of our own capacities," he said.

EU Commission spokesman Frederic Vincent voiced regret about the ban. He said the commission still has to assess the potential impact, and reserves "the right to take action as appropriate."
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R

Ruuppa

Member
BladeoftheImmortal said:
Hmmm. i could make a lot of money off this. Import to China from america, and then export those goods from china to Russia.

What say you, gaf?
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European GAF could do the same via Belarus. I know people in Russia want Valio's milk, there's graphs and statistics to back that up. Big bucks.
 
S

speculawyer

Member
Well . . . is it official now? The cold war is back.

Rockstar really needs to release another GTA set in the 80's Vice City again.
 
S

speculawyer

Member
PersonaX said:
No, it hurts the countries that sell them these imports.
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It hurts EVERYONE. The countries that sell those foods will now have less money to buy Russian oil, gas, timber, etc.


Putin couldn't handle getting snubbed by the Ukrainian people who decided they did not like their corrupt government and instead wanted to tilt toward Europe . . . and it has spun out of control ever since.
 
I

ICKE

Banned
As I said in the other thread, Finland will have re-evaluate its position within the European community as our economy can not sustain this sort of cold war mentality. Especially so if Russia targets commercial airplane routes.

It's not a question of trying to make profit without paying attention to foreign policy initiatives, the thing is that these sanctions from Europe and US are a joke. France can continue to sell arms and wine, United States do not have to care at all about counter-sanctions. It is always going to be neighboring countries like Finland, Poland and other Eastern-European countries who suffer and if we are not compensated then what's the point?

This is exactly what Russia is aiming for, they want to create division. That's not even hard after the last decade. Middle-East in total chaos as a result of western actions, world economy constantly on the brink because of dysfunction in Washington, endless spying and what not. I don't know how our fragile societies can sustain a long lasting trade war, the electorate is growing angry in many countries.
 
P

PhoenixDark

Banned
rokkerkory said:
This is gonna hurt Russia more than anyone.
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Which is the point. Any suffering Putin can blame on "the west" and use to rally more nationalism is a win for him. His country is floundering right now due to his foolish power play, but he can't retreat or give up. So we'll be seeing more of this dumb shit in the future.

I say it in every Putin thread but it bears repeating: remember all those people praising the "brilliance" of Putin's power play, talking about how "strong" he was, how he boxed the US in, etc etc etc. Now look at him.
 
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