European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels have agreed to impose new sanctions over Russia‘s alleged involvement in the Ukraine conflict. The European Union’s foreign policy coordinator, Federica Mogherini, told reporters in Brussels on January 29 that the final decision to implement the sanctions, which amount to asset freezes and a ban on food item listed entering the EU, would be taken at a further meeting of the foreign ministers, on February 9.
Last year’s travel ban and asset freezes will now continue until September. Russia’s central banks cut its key interest rate to 15%, after announcing a surprise hike from 10.5% to 17% in December to shore up the weakening ruble. The country import trend was affected slightly by the fall ruble on the currency market in the second half of the year. Overall imports have nonetheless increased against 2013. Despite ruble, Russian demand for tomato and pasta rises. Russia has stepped up its import of tomato paste by over a quarter in 2014 compared with the previous year, latest data reveals. Russia remain the third most significant importer of EU agri-food products from august-november 2014 despite its ban on EU agricultural products, new statistics from the European Commission have shown.
According to Coldiretti data, in the last five months of 2014 Italian exports of food products in Russia have suffered a loss of 1.25 billion euro, with a fall on an annual basis by 11.6 percent compared to 2013. The sectors most affected are fruits and vegetables, dairy products, meat and sausages.
