The Prime Minister said it was understandable that a transition period was needed for businesses to be able to terminate long-term contracts. Sanctions against petroleum gas will take effect later this year.
Economics Minister Viktors Valainis (Union of Greens and Farmers, ZZS) said this is a good example of how the EU can achieve a larger effect by protecting the internal market and switching to other energy sources. “This suggests to me that if there is such an EU deal on gas, then an agreement to ban grain imports is just as likely,” the minister said.
Valainis noted that on Tuesday Agriculture Minister Armands Krauze (ZZS) will reiterate his call to support Russia's ban on imports of food and agricultural goods into the EU at a meeting of the EU Council of Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers in Brussels.
Last year Latvian imports from Russia exceeded 0.5 billion euros, and most of the imports were made up not of the much-discussed grains, which mostly do not remain in Latvia, but of mineral products, especially liquefied petroleum gas, as reported earlier by Latvian Television's De Facto.
Russian oil gas will no longer be imported from next year, as it has been agreed to be included in the sanctions list in the European Union. Pending sanctions, Russian liquefied petroleum gas can also be purchased by state companies and institutions.
