Russia has extended a ban on food imports from the West by one year.
Russian news agencies quoted President Vladimir Putin as saying on June 24, "We are extending our retaliatory measures by one year beginning from today."
The ban prohibits most food imports from the United States, European Union, Australia, Canada, and Norway.
It was expected to be prolonged for six months starting from early August after the European Union extended restrictive measures hitting Russia's energy, financial, and military sectors until January 2016.
The EU also prolonged an investment ban on Crimea for another year.
The Western sanctions were imposed for one year in July 2014 in response to Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March and its support for pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.
