From our news desk:
Russia's agriculture minister says the country will have to spend billions of dollars in the coming years to ensure it has ample food supplies after banning a wide range of Western imports.
Nikolai Fyodorov's comments on August 20 suggest the ban imposed in retaliation against Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis will be costly.
Fyodorov told state-run Rossia-24 television that Russia would have to spend the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars in "urgent" funding this year to fully replace banned products. He said in the coming years, billions of dollars in farm subsidies would be required.
Fyodorov also emphasized that Moscow is turning to countries such as Argentina and some ex-Soviet republics to replace Western imports.
Also on August 20, the government removed lactose-free milk, juvenile salmon, dietary supplements and some other hard-to-substitute items from the list of banned Western imports. (with dpa and AFP)
Uh-oh, now it's serious!
From our newsroom, expanding on the report we cited earlier on sanctions exemptions in Russia:
Russia has removed lactose-free milk, juvenile salmon and some other foods that are hard to substitute from a list of banned Western imports.
Russia prohibited imports of most fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, and dairy products from many Western countries in early August in retaliation for sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.
But an order published on the government website on August 20 names several items that will be allowed because Russia istelf does not produce enough of them.
The list includes potato seeds, lactose-free dairy products and juvenile Atlantic salmon, which the order says is needed because domestic production covers only five percent of demand. It also includes some vitamins and other dietary supplements.
The order says the exclusions "will protect the interests of Russian producers and those of specific sectors of the population" without undermining the ban.
With reporting by dpa
We've also got all the latest from @TomBalmforth in Moscow on the raising of the Ukrainian flag, colors this morning over the Russian capital.
Stalin Tower Painted In Ukrainian Blue And Yellow
Ukrainian presidential aide Valeriy Chaly said via a post on the head of state's website that the EU Association Agreement "will have been ratified by the end of September."