Russia hits Ukraine with sanctions in ‘tit-for-tat’ measure
Russia has introduced new sanctions targeting Ukraine in response to Kiev’s earlier restrictions on specific Russian goods.
"This is a tit-for-tat measure against sanction restrictions on the part of Ukraine," said Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday.
The new measure bans any import of wheat, turbines, furniture, sunflower oil, vegetables, fruits and some other goods from Ukraine.
The Kremlin issued a statement explaining that "the Russian government may decide to abolish the newly introduced special economic measures if Ukraine abolishes restrictive measures imposed earlier on specific Russian goods."
On December 18, Kiev extended an earlier ban of Russian food products and railway equipment till 2020.
The two countries have repeatedly imposed minor yet numerous sanctions against each other.
On Tuesday, Moscow added another 245 individuals and seven companies, mostly in energy and defense sectors, to its sanctions list.
A total of 567 individuals and 75 Ukrainian companies now face Russian economic sanctions after Medvedev initially signed a government decree sanctioning 322 citizens and 68 companies on November 1.
Ukraine originally imposed sanctions against Russia in February 2014 over the unification of Crimea — a former territory of Ukraine — with the Russian Federation.
The unification happened after Crimea held a referendum to join Russia. Kiev and its Western allies, however, refused to accept the unification, accusing Moscow of illegally “annexing” the peninsula.
Washington and its allies have also imposed several rounds of sanctions against Russia over the Crimean reunification and an armed conflict in eastern Ukraine.
The conflict started after a string of protests overthrew the country’s democratically government in 2014 and replaced it with a pro-Western government, leading to armed confrontations in the country’s eastern and predominantly Russian-speaking regions.
Western countries accuse Russia of supporting pro-Russia forces in the region. Moscow denies the allegations.
The ongoing conflict has so far left over 10,000 people dead and more than a million displaced according to figures released by the United Nations.
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