On Monday the EU decided to lift the sanctions against Belarus. President Alyaksandr Lukashenka will be taken off the black list along with 170 other Belorussians and three companies. A decision that was received by the Kremlin as 'very positive'.
Meanwhile the French have managed to get rid of the unrest in the agrarian sector. French farmers took to the street on Saturday to protest low prices due to the large domestic supply. According to the Russian media the farmers blame the oversupply on the Russian boycott and demand an end to the sanctions.
Merkel: "End of sanctions sooner rather than later"
Merkel also claims to want to get rid of the sanctions. On Tuesday she said during a meeting of party members that she would prefer the "end of sanctions sooner rather than later in response to the Russian annexation of Crimea." She states the removal of Russian separatists from Eastern Ukraine as a condition.
Russia and Ukraine avert trucks
Further to the east the Ukraine and Russia are stopping each others trucks. On Tuesday the Russian ministry of transport decided to deny trucks registered in the Ukraine access to Russian territory and has now seized 324 trucks. The decision comes after the Ukraine decided to no longer allow Russian trucks in Ukrainian territory on Sunday.
Russia and Saudi Arabia want to freeze oil production
On Tuesday Russia and Saudi Arabia decided to freeze the production of oil. Iran accuses other oil countries of raising the production during the sanctions and says it is illogical that the Islamic Republic would now cooperate in a production stop.
Turkey helps affected exporters
Turkey is aiding exporters who were hit by the boycott. The subsidies have been set at TL160 for vegetables (€48.55), TL720 for dried fruit (€218.50), TL165 for fresh and processed fruit (€50) and TL320 (€97.12) for fruit juices. Besides Eastern Europe, Israel is also said to be on the list of potential markets.
Almost three quarters of Russians dissatisfied with EU relationship
On Monday the Russian bureau for statistics (FOM) presented an opinion poll that shows that 73% of Russians are dissatisfied with the Russian-European relationship. 50% of those asked believe the relationship mainly deteriorated in the past year. 44% of respondents believe Europe doesn't want peace with Russia.
Russia destroys Belgian Conference
Meanwhile Russia strongly believes in the policy of destroying illegal food. Last week the Russian phytosanitary service Rosselkhoznadzor discovered a load of Belgian Conference when checking a truck from Belarus. Although the freight papers stated that they were frozen berries, the freight consisted of 20,250 kg of pears.