Russia to Greece: Leave the EU and we'll lift the embargo
First entry: 18 January 2015 - 09:47 Athens

Russia to Greece: Leave the EU and we'll lift the embargo

Russia may lift its ban on food imports from Greece in the event it quits the European Union, Russian Minister of Agriculture Nikolai Fyodorov told a news conference in Berlin on Friday.

Fyodorov is leading an official Russian delegation to the International Green Week public exhibition for the food, agriculture and gardening industry.

"If Greece has to leave the European Union, we will build our own relations with it, the food ban will not be applicable to it," he said.

He said that European Union countries, which felt discomfort from the slump in proceeds from exports of foods to Russia, were asking Russia to cushion the impacts of the Russian food import ban by expanding other types of imports. "We are looking at such possibility," he said, adding that these countries offer new formats of cooperation in those areas that are not covered by the Russian food sanctions.

Meanwhile he stressed that Russia did not plan to toughen its sanctions. "As concerns possible new sanctions, we are not looking at any such proposals from any structures," he added.

Source: itar-tass.com