Russia bans agricultural imports from west -don't tell me the West thought it could impose sanctions
without facing sanctions themselves.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/06/russia-bans-imports-eu-us-sanctions
<snip>
Russian government officials have been told to draw up a list of western agricultural products and raw materials that will be banned or restricted for up to one year, according to the decree published on the Kremlin website.
In tacit recognition that Russian consumers will bear the cost of the import ban, the decree also instructs officials to come up with measures to stabilise commodity markets and prevent food price rises.
The import ban follows a threat of retaliation from Russia's prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, in response to the grounding of the budget airline subsidiary of Aeroflot as a result of EU sanctions. Russian officials are reported to be considering banning European airlines from flying to Asia over Siberia.
Food has also been caught up in political tensions between Russia and the west. In recent days Russian food safety authorities have banned the import of Polish fruit and vegetables, while McDonald's cheeseburgers and milkshakes are being investigated by a regional branch of consumer protection agency Rospotrebnadzor.
= new reply since forum marked as read
What's amusing is how Putin justifies his "sanctions".
They're banning food and saying it's unsafe. In many cases, they don't even say it's retaliation. They just say the food is unsafe.
Then they'll be safe. 
If Russians go hungry as a result, I wonder if Putin will accept responsibility for that? 
