The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, signed on 24th June 2015 a decree "On the extension in force of discrete special economic measures with the aim of guaranteeing the security of the Russian Federation."

The decree means that Russia's ban on the import of certain agricultural products from the USA, Canada, the EU, Norway and Australia will remain in place for a further year beyond the anniversary of its introduction. The embargo will now remain in place until 6 August 2016.

In the decree it is stated that the extension is being made with the aim of defending Russia's national interests. The publication of the decree follows the announcement by the EU Council on 22 June 2015 of the extension of its restrictive measures against Russia until 31 January 2016, which was stated to be in order to align the measures with the implementation of the Minsk accords concerning hostilities in Eastern Ukraine.

For further details of the Russian Federation's import ban, please click here to view our update published following the introduction of the ban in August 2014.

Details of extension of the EU restrictive measures are available here.

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