Ukraine bans imports from Russia

“Today, we officially announce the complete cessation of trade in goods with the aggressor,” Ukraine’s Economy and Trade Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said in a statement on April 9. “From now on, no Russian products will be imported into our territory.”

According to the Ukrainian minister, this move is aimed at reducing the possibility of Russia’s budget being funded for hostilities in this country.

“Such a step by Ukraine could set an example for our Western partners and stimulate them to strengthen their sanctions against Russia, including implementing an energy embargo and isolating all Russian banks.” “, the statement added.

Since Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24, the exchange of goods and services between the two countries has been virtually non-existent. However, the latest statement from the Ministry of Economy and Trade of Ukraine puts the cessation of imports into law.

Before the conflict, Russia was one of Ukraine’s key trading partners, with annual imports worth about $6 billion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday also called on Western countries to impose stricter sanctions on Russia, especially in the energy sector. According to him, if the oil ban was not imposed, Russia would “feel unscathed” because Russia’s revenue mainly comes from oil and gas.

After Russia launched a military campaign in Ukraine, the US led its allies to impose many rounds of sanctions against Russia, such as removing some Russian banks from the SWIFT international payment system, banning the import of many goods from Russia. and abolished the country’s most-favored-nation status. The US also announced a ban on imports of oil and other energy from Russia.

Russia responded by banning the export of more than 200 items in the telecommunications, medical, automotive, agricultural, electrical engineering and technology sectors until the end of 2022. Moscow also asked “unfriendly” countries to buy them. Russian energy is denominated in rubles and can be expanded to include commodities that have to be traded in this currency.

The EU this week announced that it will ban Russian ships from entering EU ports from April 16 and embargo Russian coal from the beginning of August. The Union has not yet introduced an embargo on Russian oil and gas because it is highly dependent on water supplies. this. Russia is supplying 40% of Europe’s gas needs. About 25% of the oil supply to Europe also comes from Russia.

Last month, the EU set a goal of becoming completely independent of energy imports from Russia by 2027. The EU and the US also previously signed agree supply more Washington gas to Europe. The US said it will work with international partners, trying to secure at least 15 billion cubic meters of liquefied petroleum gas (LNG) for the EU market by 2022 and continue to increase in the future.