Dive Brief:
- Russia currently has a ban on food imports from several European Union countries, but Russia may reportedly lift that ban for certain countries, including Greece, Hungary, and Cyprus, according to news agency Interfax, as reported by CyprusMail.
- Russia originally instituted the ban "in response to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow for its role in the Ukraine crisis," says CyprusMail.
- According to CyprusMail, Russian Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fyodorov told journalists, "We are actively investigating to see what civilized opportunities there are to their proposals (countries which have asked to lift the embargo). If we help them, we would not want to create problems for them in their relations with Brussels."
Dive Insight:
The reasoning behind Russia lifting the ban may be unclear, particularly in determining the certain countries involved. But some say it could be the fact that the embargo and the weaker ruble combined to increase the country's inflation to 16.7% in February, which was nearly a 13-year high.