Some countries that have similar agreements with the EU have not participated in the sanctions – so joining the sanctions is a deliberate choice, Medvedev said.
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“From now on, the list – which already includes the EU, Australia, Canada, Norway and the US, and prohibits the supplies of some agricultural products from these countries since last August – has been extended to Albania, Montenegro, Iceland and Liechtenstein and, subject to special conditions, Ukraine,” Medvedev said Thursday, as reported by Russian Federation Today.
The possibility of an import ban being imposed on food from Iceland was first announced by Russian officials at the end of July.
The move comes after the EU and US introduced sanctions over Russia’s annexation of Crimea and actions in eastern Ukraine.
Russian Federation slapped the ban on Western products a year ago but the authorities say that produce is being repackaged in neighboring ex-Soviet states and smuggled in. In June, the Kremlin prolonged the ban following the EU’s decision to extend its sanctions through January.
Medvedev also told a government meeting that Moscow would only ban certain food imports from Ukraine from 2016 if an economic association agreement between Kiev and the European Union came into force.
Mr Medvedev said on Wednesday that the counter-sanctions had given domestic agriculture a significant boost and had not caused shortages, according to Rossiya 24.
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In this photo taken August 4, 2015, an employee puts products on a shelf at a food store in Moscow, Russia.
