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Russia Considers Bans on Chocolate, Fish and Flowers After EU Extends Sanctions

Russia is considering more import curbs on Western goods, including confectionery, canned fish products and flowers, a minister said on Wednesday, part of Moscow's response to EU sanctions over Ukraine.

Russia has said it will prolong a ban on Western food imports for six months beyond its expected expiry in early August after the European Union extended its measures.

"We are really considering other proposals on the sanction list," Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev told Rossiya 24 television.

He said Russia's own confectionery and flower industries were well developed and its fish industry was getting there.

Earlier this week, a government official said the list of banned goods "remains virtually unchanged."

The ban, which prohibits food imports worth $9 billion from the United States, European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway, was imposed for a year in retaliation for Western sanctions. The Western measures were imposed over Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and what the EU says is Russia's support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The current Russian list of banned products includes fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, milk and dairy. 

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