Ukraine bans import of some Russian goods from Jan 10 till Aug 5

KIEV, Jan 11 (PRIME) -- Kiev will ban imports of some Russian goods from January 10 until August 5 or until Moscow lifts its embargo on imports of Ukrainian food, the government said in a statement published on January 2.

From January 1, Ukraine launched a free-trade zone with the E.U. and Kiev has developed and implemented more than 50 regulatory acts to implement technical and other regulations of the E.U. aimed at association with the Union. But Russia says these regulations hurt its economy and contradict a free-trade zone deal signed by 18 CIS states in 2011.

Earlier, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a ruling to impose import duties and a food import ban on Ukraine from January 1. According to a decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin, published on the Russian government’s Web site for disclosure of legal information also on January 1, Russia will transit Ukraine’s goods to Kazakhstan only if they come from the territory of Belarus and are equipped with a GLONASS tracking.

On December 30, Ukraine cancelled the CIS free-trade zone agreement with Russia and imposed the ban in response to Moscow’s decisions.

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