Serbia among countries Russia intends to buy food from

A supermarket in Novosibirsk, some 2,800 kilometers east of Moscow (Beta/AP)

Serbia among countries Russia intends to buy food from

MOSCOW -- Serbia is one of the countries on the "priority list" from which Russia intends to import food products after imposing sanctions on previous, western suppliers.

"Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Tajikistan, and to some extent Kyrgyzstan are perspective for fruit and vegetable imports. Along them are Turkey, Iran, Serbia," Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fyodorov told the Rossiya-1 channel and added:

"Very promising countries are Iran, Morocco, Egypt. They need our products - grain, vegetable oil, and we need their fruit and vegetables."

According to him, a very strong market "knocking on our door" are Latin American countries - Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Ecuador, Peru. "We are negotiating with them, and they are lined up to increase deliveries of their products," the minister said.

He added that imported Norwegian fish will be replaced by Russia's own products.

Fyodorov also said he believed that the counter-measures aimed at the EU, the U.S., Australia, Canada, and Norway would not lead to deficits or rising prices in Russia.

He said that one problem in the beginning could be "very expensive cheeses from Italy and France, oysters and clams - but that is not a segment that can cause difficulties in the country. That is premium class and is negligible, and our task is primarily to support Russian farmers."

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