Russia Bans Food Imports in Retaliation for Western Sanctions

Russia banned imports of a wide range of U.S. and European foods on Thursday in response to Western sanctions, confronting Russians with a breed of economic isolation largely unseen since the Soviet era. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev outlined the products subject to the one-year ban—beef, pork, poultry, fish, fruit, vegetables, cheese, milk and other dairy products—at a government meeting, marking a radical response to Western penalties imposed on Russia over the crisis in Ukraine. But while the list appeared tailored to avoid hitting ordinary consumers too much, some economists said it could backfire by driving up domestic food prices, at least in the short term. Russia's showy demonstration of defiance came in the face of the harshest Western sanctions to hit Russia since the outcry over the Kremlin's annexation of Crimea in March. Last week, in response to the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over separatist-held territory in eastern Ukraine, the West targeted wide swaths of the Russian economy, including finance, oil and weaponry. The wide-ranging ban on foodstuffs underscored Russia's dramatic retreat from the West under President Vladimir Putin this year. "It's symptomatic of a much deeper economic and psychological change going on, which is that Russia is being cut off," said Charles Grant, director of the London-based think tank Centre for European Reform. The import ban also serves Mr. Putin's domestic agenda by potentially boosting agricultural production at home and encouraging consumers to buy homemade goods amid a sluggish economic outlook. Mr. Putin has promoted greater self-sufficiency for Russia, a message that plays well to a political base nostalgic for the days when the Soviet Union celebrated domestic production...more