Russia may lighten food embargo

Russian Foreign Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at the first All-Russian Food Security Forum today that the country had imposed a ban on EU food on August 8, 2015. Vice Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said that the government considered lightening food sanctions and remove young rainbow trout, oysters and mussels from the blacklist, allegedly for the needs of Russian fish farms. Related acts will be presented to the government in late June, Kommersant reports.

Alexey Alexeyenko, assistant head of Rosselkhoznadzor, called the measure necessary as imports of genetic resources for further production.

Vasily Uzun, chief fellow at the RANEPA Center of Agricultural and Food Policy, opined that the food embargo was not as effective as expected. Moreover, he doubts the need for total import substitution due to the inability of the country to produce all the products. In his opinion, manufacturing some products would be more costly than importing them. Instead, Uzun noted, the government should open the market and allow exports and imports.