MOSCOW, August 8 (RIA Novosti) - Russia’s ban on imports of Western products will not include foreign pharmaceuticals, an aid to Russia’s Prime Minister Gennady Onishchenko said.
“There were no statements, no hints, no attempts to do so [to ban imports of drugs]. If you remember, all these countering measures were preceded by the president’s call to look into them carefully,” said Onishchenko, who used to be Russia's chief sanitary doctor. “That’s why nobody speaks about drugs,” he said in an interview with Russia’s Ekho Moskvy radio station.
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order on economic measures to protect the country’s security. The decree banned for a year imports of agricultural and food products from several countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia.
Russia “blacklisted” food imports including meat, poultry, fish, seafood, milk, dairy products, as well as fruits and vegetables from the European Union, the United States, Australia, Canada, and Norway.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said he hoped the embargo would put the “economic pragmatism” of the Western partners “ridiculous political ideas” and cooperation would be restored in previous volumes.
Ordering the cabinet to think of counter-measures to the most recent of EU and US economic penalties, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged to make sure that the steps taken to support domestic manufacturers are “without detriment to consumers.”
