EU consumers to bear brunt of Russian agricultural import restrictions

Dmitry Peskov stressed that such an initiative is “another clear example of unfair competition”

Consumers in the European Union will definitely feel the effects of restrictions on the import of agricultural products from Russia and Belarus, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing.

The EU is importing around 5 million tons of grain from Russia and if this is going to be stopped (say by Russians themselves) then poorer people of EU will be staring at Starvation. The alternative will be to import grain from other continents which will lead to de stabilization of World Market. Rise in price will impact many African Nations.

“The [average] consumer in Europe will definitely suffer. We have many alternative directions for supplies. Here, of course, industry experts must think about quantitative flows there – how much they will compensate for these de facto prohibitive measures,” he said.

The Kremlin official stressed that such an initiative is “another clear example of unfair competition.”

Earlier, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced that a proposal had been prepared to increase tariffs on Russian and Belarusian imports of grain products into the EU. In her opinion, this will prevent Russian grain from destabilizing the European market.

As a European source told a TASS correspondent on the sidelines of the summit in Brussels, the European Commission intends to publish on Friday a proposal to introduce duties on agricultural products from Russia and Belarus.