International sanctions

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich met with the leadership of the Greek Agricultural development and foods ministry, including Minister Vangelis Apostolou, and talked about the Greek exports and the Russian embargo.

Serbia "will not falter in the face of pressure to introduce sanctions against Russia," Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic has said.

Speaking on Wednesday, he stressed that "the EU represents the key foreign-policy goal," but that Serbia is a militarily neutral country that will not give in to pressure and join sanctions.

Montenegro has expanded the list of countries against which it has an arms embargo, allying itself further with the EU, which it hope to join.

A government document, which BIRN has seen, shows that the list of countries against which the sanctions have been imposed to include Belarus, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Egypt, Somalia and Zimbabwe.

Russia on Thursday said it had added Montenegro to the list of countries from which it was banning food imports in retaliation to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over the Ukraine crisis.

Moscow has added five European countries to its food imports ban list introduced in response to Western sanctions against Russia over the crisis in Ukraine.

"Those countries are Albania, Montenegro, Iceland, and Liechtenstein, as well as Ukraine under certain conditions," Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said during a cabinet  meeting on Thursday, according to RIA Novosti.

Total Serbian exports to Russia in the first six months of 2015 were 33 per cent lower than the same period last year, according to a report by the Serbian Chamber of the Economy released on Tuesday.

Total exports to Russia in the first six months of this year added up to 332 million dollars, while in the same period in 2014, they amounted to 486 million dollars.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Aug. 3 placed sanctions on a dozen companies and institutions for their role in the ongoing conflict in Syria.

The USA extended the list of sanctioned Russian and Ukrainian individuals and institutions in an attempt to maintain pressure on Russia for Moscow's alleged support of separatists in Ukraine.

The administration of US President Barack Obama added on Thursday the names of 26 people and entities that will be subjected to economic sanctions, the New York Times informs.

The Serbian Foreign Minister has accused Western democracies of hypocritically pressuring Serbia to join the sanctions against Russia while increasing their own trade with Moscow.

The Bank of Greece announced on Monday that it would only carry out transactions related to the Greek state, legal entities of public law and social security funds from Monday, June 29, until July 7. The announcement issued stated no other transactions would be carried out.