Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


                  Russia Intensifies Food Restrictions from EU

   by VOA News

   Russia announced it will further restrict its food imports from the
   European Union on Tuesday in response to Western sanctions over its
   actions in Ukraine.

   The country's agriculture supervisory agency announced Monday that
   "temporary restrictions" will go into effect on European beef and pork
   offal (entrails and internal organs); plus beef, pork and chicken fat.

   Earlier Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized the
   sanctions imposed on Russia for its annexation of the Crimean peninsula
   from Ukraine and alleged support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.

   In a public lecture in Moscow, Lavrov said the fact that the EU imposed
   its latest sanctions on Russia after Ukraine's government and the
   Russia-backed separatists signed a cease-fire last month shows that the
   situation in Ukraine is being used, primarily by the United States, to
   "put Russia in its place."

   At least 3,500 people have been killed in the conflict in eastern
   Ukraine since it started in April. On Monday, a leading international
   human rights group said Russia-backed separatists and pro-Kyiv forces
   were responsible for summary killings in eastern Ukraine.

   Amnesty International reported that several cases it has reviewed
   suggest "strongly" that both sides have carried out extra-judicial
   killings.

   Human Rights Watch also reported Monday that after a week-long
   investigation in eastern Ukraine, it documented "widespread use" of
   cluster munitions in clashes between separatists and government forces.

   The international watchdog said it could not determine which side used
   the rockets. But it added that evidence "points to Ukrainian government
   forces' responsibility" for several cluster bomb attacks on Donetsk.

   While the international rules of war do not ban cluster munitions
   explicitly, they criminalize the use of "indiscriminate" weapons
   deployed in a civilian area.

   Russia and Ukraine are not parties to the Convention on Cluster
   Munitions that prohibits their use entirely.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/russia-intensifies-food-restrictions-
   from-eu/2490598.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/russia-intensifies-food-restrictions-from-eu/2490598.html