In retaliation for Western sanctions imposed amid the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, Russia is banning all U.S. agricultural imports and all EU fruit and vegetable imports. As tension between Russia and the West escalate to their worst since the Cold War era, Putin has ordered his government to compile a list of products to be banned for one year. All food and agricultural products produced in the U.S. and all EU fruits and vegetables will fall under the complete ban while some products from other sanctioning countries could be limited. Russia is the biggest buyer of EU fruits and vegetables, buying 21.5% of vegetable exports and 28% of fruit exports in 2011. Russia also buys 8% of all U.S. chicken exports making it the second biggest buyer after Mexico according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Russian officials state that the country will likely discuss increasing food imports from Brazil, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina. The central bank warns that by banning cheap imports, Russia could find it difficult to control inflation which stands at 7.5% – still higher than the 6.5% seen in 2013. Russia and Finland share a long border and Russia is Finland’s third biggest trade partner. Alexander Stubb, Finland’s Prime Minister fears that the situation could cause another economic crisis and states that if Finland is disproportionately burdened it will seek aid from the EU bloc.
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