MOSCOW, August 14 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian government may use goods from its reserve stores to compensate for deficits of embargoed imports from the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia and Norway , Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Thursday.
“We need to provide for provisions of resources from the state material reserve that has a number of products if need be,” Dvorkovich said.
Besides relying on its own stores, Russia has entered talks with Ecuador, which earlier said it is prepared for the possibility of increasing food exports to Russia. Mexico has also expressed its readiness to boost deliveries of food products to Russia.
Some media reports suggest that the European Union planned to convince Latin American states not to export food products to Russia.
On August 7, Russia imposed a ban on food imports from the countries that have launched sanctions against it. The decision came in response to Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its alleged involvement in the independence movement in Ukraine.
Several countries affected by the food ban, such as Latvia, Austria and Australia, have already expressed concern about the negative effect it might have on their economies.
Russian state reserve stockpiles are federally owned goods that serve to meet the needs of the population in any kind of emergency, support different sectors of the nation's economy, provide humanitarian aid and regulate markets.
