Ukraine to ban array of Russian food imports

Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko arrives to attend a summit to discuss the conflict in Ukraine at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, October 2, 2015.

Crimea, which Russian Federation seized from Ukraine in March past year, has suffered repeated power cuts since the annexation, underlining its reliance on Ukraine for electricity and fuelling a downwards spiral in relations between Moscow and Kyiv.

Ukraine halted gas purchases from Russia’s top producer Gazprom in July 2015 after Kyiv and Moscow failed to reach a deal on gas deliveries for the third quarter of the year.

“A corresponding lawsuit will be filed in an English court in compliance with the established procedures”, the ministry said on its website.

Moscow however, maintains that the loan can not be considered private debt and has refused such conditions.

The Ukrainian parliament last week adopted its 2016 budget with a deficit of 3.7 percent of GDP, a crucial step for unlocking much-needed aid from the International Monetary Fund and Western countries.

Ukraine will investigate a cyberattack on its energy grid, the energy ministry said Thursday, an event that the country’s security service believes originated in Russia, Reuters reports.

The Ukrainian government has banned Russian food imports, in the latest round of a tit-for-tat trade war sparked by Kyiv’s adoption of a trade deal with the European Union.

“This (the Russian embargo) will of course be a problem for Ukrainian food producers, but let’s not forget that many of them have already entirely or partially reoriented their production toward alternative markets: the EU, Africa, Kazakhstan, China, the Middle East”, said UniCredit analyst Perelygin.

He blasted the embargo in his New Year address, saying Moscow was trying to “economically strangle” Ukraine.

The Russian Orthodox church dominates Ukraine’s central, eastern and southern regions, while Catholics and Greek Catholics are concentrated in the west of the country.

The United Nations estimates that more than 9,000 people – majority civilians – have died since the rebel revolt began in April 2014.

However, sporadic outbreaks of violence continue and a Ukrainian soldier and two civilians were killed in fighting on December 27 despite the truce.

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