The Kremlin says the sanctions amount to a declaration of economic war by the United States and its allies.
Speaking at a televised meeting chaired by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Deputy Prime Minister Viktoria Abramchenko warned Russians against stockpiling staples such as buckwheat and sugar as they did at the start of the pandemic in 2020.
“As in 2020, I want to reassure people: We are fully self-sufficient in both sugar and buckwheat,” she said. “There is no need to panic-buy these goods. There is enough for everybody. Panic-buying only destabilises the production network.”
Abramchenko had previously said there would be no food shortages on the domestic market, which Russia has taken measures to protect.
Russia, which has reported “unjustified” shortages of sugar in some regions due to panic-buying, has banned exports of sugar until Aug. 31 and set a duty-free quota for imports of 300,000 tonnes of sugar and raw sugar, hoping to ease domestic food inflation.
