Russia Cannot Exempt Greece From Food Embargo

Greece is not going to be excluded from the embargo imposed by Russia on its farm production, but other forms of cooperation could be discussed, including the supply with Greek raw materials of food-sector joint ventures on Russian soil, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. His comments come after the Greek government asked Russia to lift sanctions on supplies of “key agricultural production” such as peaches, strawberries and oranges that are being left to rot due to a lack of a market.

     "There are quite straightforward rues of the World Trade Organization, and Russia, as a WTO member, cannot choose. We cannot impose sanctions against EU member states and selectively lift sanctions on one of the countries," he told newspaper Izvestia.

However, in this case direct deliveries of agricultural products can be substituted by "imports of raw materials with an investment in Russia-based food processing facilities," Peskov said.

Earlier in February President Putin said Moscow would be able to cooperate with Hungarian agriculture despite sanctions and added that the establishment of joint ventures will help avoid the difficulties caused by Russian countermeasures against Western sanctions.

References: RT, enikos