Sanctions against Ukraine and Turkey come into force in Russia

Russian sanctions taken in the past year against Ukraine and Turkey have come into force today. Anti-Ukrainian sanctions are imposed because of Kiev's participation in the anti-Russian sanctions and anti-Turkish sanctions due to the destruction of the Russian Su-24 bomber by the Turkish Air Forces.

The food embargo imposed on August 7th 2014 against all the countries which have joined the Western sanctions against Russia was imposed on Ukraine from today. Kiev could avoid it if an economic agreement with Ukraine were to be reached.

Thus, meat, fish, milk, fruits and vegetables produced in Ukraine are banned in Russia. If such products are to be found in Russia, they are to be seized and destroyed.

A less stringent food embargo was introduced against Turkey: poultry meat, tomatoes, onions, cabbages, cucumbers, oranges, tangerines, grapes, apples, pears, apricots, peaches, plums and strawberries are forbidden to be imported into the territory of the Russian Federation. The list of goods which are not prohibited includes salt and cloves. But Russians still can bring these products for the personal use.

The agreement on the free trade zone between Russia and Ukraine was suspended today in order to avoid negative consequences for the Russian economy due to the creation of the free trade zone between Ukraine and the European Union. An exception was made only for the export duty on gas.

Thus, it was decided to introduce a most-favored regime instead of an agreement on a free trade zone with Ukraine. As the Russian Ministry of Economic Development explained, Ukraine lost a lot of preferences in other areas: sanitary and phytosanitary measures, customs, migration, services, investment and so on, Interfax reports. According to the ministry, the new terms of cooperation with Ukraine will not cause significant harm to the Russian economy.

The visa-free regime for citizens of Turkey with foreign passports was suspended starting from today, while Russians still can travel to Turkey without any additional documents.