Government to decide on banning imports of agricultural products from Russia and Belarus - PM

RIGA - The government will decide this Tuesday on a regulation banning imports of agricultural products from Russia and Belarus, Prime Minister Evika Silina (New Unity) said Monday following the weekly coalition meeting. 

"With this decision we intended to prevent Russian and Belarusian products from entering Latvia (which, however, does not promote competition among farmers and restricts it in various ways), so that we do not finance these countries' military and political capacity," the prime minister said. 

Silina noted that Lithuania and Poland have announced an intention to take a similar decision. The prime minister believes that by taking a political decision, which initially would only be binding nationally, Latvia has set the political environment in the Baltic states and Poland in motion, making the adoption of an EU-wide ban more realistic, which is the goal. 

According to Silina, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk appreciates Latvia's initiative, as he  also considers it a rather good solution to the ongoing protests of Polish farmers.

Agriculture Minister Armands Krauze (Greens/Farmers) indicated that Lithuania and Estonia have supported the ban on agricultural product imports from Russia and Belarus when the proposal was raised on the EU level. Estonia, however, has not yet said that it, too, might adopt such a ban.

The minister said that the list of the banned goods has been extended by agreeing it with farmers' organizations. The list includes not only cereals and animal fodder but also  fruit and vegetables, Krauze said.