Minister Of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko: From Now On There Will Be No More Products From The Russian Federation

MELBOURNE - Ukraine has banned all imports from Russia and called on other countries to follow suit by imposing tougher economic sanctions on Moscow.

"Today we officially announce the complete cessation of trade in goods with the aggressor country", wrote Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko on her Facebook page, Saturday, April 10.

"From now on, no more products from the Russian Federation will be imported into the territory of our country", she said.

Russia was one of Ukraine's main trading partners before the war with an annual value of about $6 billion.

Since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the exchange of goods and services between the two neighbors has been virtually nil, and Saturday's announcement made the policy a legal requirement.

"This enemy will no longer be able to receive funds from us because we will continue to reduce all the potential that exists for them to finance the war", said Svyrydenko.

"This step can be emulated by our Western partners and encourage them to strengthen sanctions against Russia, including the implementation of an energy embargo and isolation of all Russian banks", she said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly called on the West to boycott oil and other exports from Russia and stop all exports to Russia in retaliation for its military invasion.

Western countries have imposed several measures to isolate Russia at a level that has never been experienced by such a large country.

Meanwhile on Saturday British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would impose more sanctions on Russia. This was reported by Antara.