Russian Agriculture Minister Nikolay Fyodorov says the removal of Western sanctions will be the only way to lift the food import embargo, amid optimistic calls from the European Commission following diplomatic talks in Berlin.

Cranes in St Petersburg

The minister told German newspaper Handelsblatt he hoped relations would normalize soon.

"However, it is 100% clear that the ball is in the West's court," Fyodorov was quoted as saying.

In the interview, he specifically criticized sanctions on leading lender Sberbank and Russian Agricultural Bank.

"Russian agricultural producers have not been able to compete on equal and fair terms with others since then," the minister told Handelsblatt.

"We had to respond and introduced an embargo against European, American, Australian and Canadian food products.

"We managed to boost our own agriculture and replace imports from the US and the EU with supplies from South Africa, South America, Turkey, China, Iran and other countries."

European Commission (EC) spokesperson for health and food safety, Enrico Brivio, praised the outcome of discussions with Russian veterinarian officials in Berlin, website Itar-tass.com reported.

He said the EC looked forward to an agreement for the resumption of agricultural trade between the EU and Russia, adding the commission was to review the results of the Berlin talks shortly, the story reported.

These resolution announcements come amid significant price hikes for food at home, with the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) citing a 22% year-on-year rise for fruit and vegetable prices in December, and a 15% increase for food in general. This compares to an 11.4% rise in consumer prices.

Website Fruchthandel.de reported Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev had announced plans to mitigate significant price rises.

A call for diplomacy

In an EU release, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs - whose country currently holds the union presidency - said EU-Russia relations depended on an adherence to the Minsk Agreement that was signed in September last year.

The treaty formed a deal to stop fighting in the Ukraine's eastern Donbass region.

"The Latvian Foreign Minister emphasised that in relations with Russia, the EU ought to pursue a solidarity-based approach.If the Minsk Agreement is not fulfilled, no grounds exist for reviewing sanctions against Russia," the release said.

"The main elements of the Minsk Agreement include Russia's commitments to stop supplying arms to separatists, to withdraw troops from the territory of Ukraine, and to facilitate restoration of Ukrainian control over its border utilising OCSE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe] monitoring."

Rinkēvičs also drew attention to the issue of propaganda spread by Russia, which he said caused challenges for EU member states. An example from his home country is the fact Latvia's State Language Center recently called on people to use the Latvian language at work, however this was interpreted by some Russian media outlets as a ban on speaking Russian in the workplace.

Ruble restoration

While the Russian import ban may have created opportunities for non-sanctioning countries, exporters like Heike Hagenguth of Egyptian exporter Pico, recently said prospects were undermined by the ruble's falling value.

It is an issue affecting many fruit shippers and logistics companies around the world, including Sweden-based and Russian-owned Cool Carriers.

"I would still expect that something is going to be moving [into Russia] but it’s going to be less volume; local prices are going to go up and that will create less demand," the reefer company's CEO Boris Gersling told www.freshfruitportal.com earlier this month.

The currency situation may be on the mend however, if recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) statements are anything to go by.

Itar-tass.com reported IMF head of mission Bikas Joshi had praised the Russian government's actions to stabilize the ruble.

"It seems that the period of sharp ups and downs is coming to an end. The measures that were taken are beginning to work, that is the increase in the key rate, and support for the banking system, and the provision of foreign currency, and liquidity to market participants," the IMF representative in Russia was quoted as saying.

"All of this is supporting the ruble, and will probably be maintaining it in the future."

He said the ruble had recovered to a rate of 65 to the dollar, up from a rate of 80 rubles to the dollar in mid-December, the story reported.

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