Russian Federation to ban imports of all Ukrainian food products in 2016

Putin’s relations with Western leaders have deteriorated over Russia’s backing of pro-Moscow rebels in Ukraine.

Since conceding that a Russian airliner was downed in the Sinai by a terrorist bomb, Moscow has unleashed a series of punishing air strikes against Raqqa, the Islamic State’s headquarters in Syria. “We want to receive $16 billion from Russia as we believe that Russia set the unfair price of gas for Ukraine, and Russia does not pay enough for gas transit via Ukraine’s territory”, he said.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said on Thursday the commission chief’s “correlation with fulfilling the Minsk accords, especially in the current conditions when we see Kiev’s unwillingness, once again, to honour these accords” makes his offer “hardly relevant or possible”.

Talking at an administration meeting, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said he expected a facilitated commerce understanding between his nation and the European Union to enter power from January 1, 2016. 18 November 2015The delayed Ukraine-EU free trade pact will come into effect with the new year, President Petro Poroshenko has said.

“My vision is that year 2016 has all chances to become the last year of sanctions”, he said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the G20 summit this week, Putin said he had discussed Ukraine’s debt repayment with U.S. President Barack Obama and International Monetary Fund President Christine Lagarde, Russian media reported.

“Yuriy Ruban, a political analyst and head of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s Humanitarian Policies Department, told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service that if the West forgets about Ukraine, then “in several months [Russia’s] hybrid war will expand to the Baltic states and beyond, something that our Baltic colleagues are lamenting right now”. Russian Finance Minister Aleksei Ulyukayev told Russian Television channel Rossia-24 that Russia was making the move “in light of the fact that Ukraine has joined the approvals against the Russian Federation both financial and economic”.