On August 7, Russia banned imports of dairy products, meat, fish, fruits and vegetables from the United States, European Union, Australia, Norway and Canada in retaliation for economic sanctions on Russia imposed by those countries. The ban is set for one year, but Russian officials left open the possibility of pulling the embargo if political tensions ease.

To determine the impact of Russia's embargo, the U.S. government has requested information from exporters on the status of shipments in transit to Russia, either directly or transiting third countries. Even though U.S. dairy products were already blocked from the Russian market due to ongoing difficulties in arriving at suitable import documentation requirements, if you have shipments en route to neighboring countries or encounter any problems shipping to other countries of the Customs Union such as Belarus and Kazakhstan please notify Jaime Castaneda, USDEC's senior vice president of trade policy, jcastaneda@usdec.org, 703-528-3049.