Vladimir Putin

© Kremlin.ru

Insiders were predicting yesterday that Russia would prolong its ban on western food products by a further six months, but such predictions in fact proved overly optimistic as president Vladimir Putin announced its extension by an entire year.

“We are extending our retaliatory measures by one year beginning from today,” he said, before highlighting the benefits that the ban would have on Russia’s domestic production and security.

Putin stressed that the extension was in reaction to the EU’s decision to prolong its sanctions on the country by six months over the crisis in Ukraine.

The ban applies to food imports from the EU, the US, Canada, Norway and Australia, with exporters from these countries likely to intensify their interest in alternative markets such as the Middle East and East Asia.