Russia may extend its embargo on many Western food products until the end of 2017, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced Friday.
The Kremlin began the embargo in 2014 against nations who had imposed sanctions on Russia following the annexation of Crimea and its activities in eastern Ukraine.
World leaders at the G7 summit in Japan announced earlier today that those sanctions would continue until the Minsk Agreement was fully implemented in Ukraine.
"Our manufacturers have repeatedly asked for the embargo on agricultural products from countries that have imposed sanctions against the Russian Federation to continue. I want to say that I want to extend them not just for a year, but until the end of 2017,” Medvedev said at a meeting with members of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.
Any proposal Medvedev submits on prolonging the embargo will need to be signed off on by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Russian government claims that Western nations have lost $9.3 billion as a result of the embargo.
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