The Cabinet of Ministers on 6 July extended its food embargo on Russian goods for six months, until 31 December 2017, in response to a new wave of restrictive measures earlier imposed by Russia.
"A draft resolution has been submitted that proposes to extend until 31 December 2017, inclusive, the ban on supplies to the Ukrainian customs territory of Russian goods, the list of which was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers by its resolution dated 30 December 2015," Ukraine's Economic Development Minister Stepan Kubiv stated when presenting the resolution.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the extension until 31 December 2017 of the food embargo against Ukrainian goods imposed in response to Western sanctions. Russia introduced its restrictive measures in the aftermath of the entry into force of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union on 1 January 2016.
In December 2015, the Russian authorities took a number of decisions that restricted or completely banned trade relations with Ukraine in some economic segments. Thus, the Russian president signed a decree on the suspension of a free trade deal with Ukraine within the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States], effective from 1 January 2016. In addition, Russia imposed an embargo on exports of Ukrainian food products and some industrial goods. Ukraine responded with retaliatory measures having introduced import duties on a wide range of Russian goods and commodity groups at rates varying in the range of 1.5 per cent-19 per cent with a transition period of three-five years.