The Russian company Lukoil is selling the 19 petrol stations that it owns in Slovakia to Hungarian firm Norma Benzinkut in a move that closely follows the EU's imposition of new trading sanctions against Russia in response to the conflict in Ukraine. Lukoil is the second-largest Russian oil company. As the Pravda daily writes, Norma Benzinkut, was only set up in March of this year however it plans to buy 79 petrol stations from Lukoil in Hungary by the end of 2014. By these sales Lukoil is continuing its withdrawal from markets in Central and Eastern Europe. Russia is also considering banning transit flights of airlines from the EU and the USA en route to the Asia-Pacific region. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev stated this on Thursday adding that they haven’t yet reached a final decision on this. However, Russia has already decided to ban transit flights of Ukrainian airliners over its territory.
Moscow also announced a firm ban on the import of fruit, vegetable, meat, fish, milk and dairy products from the USA, EU, Australia, Canada, and Norway. Prime Minister Medvedev announced this on Thursday, following a decision made by President Vladimir Putin who signed this ban on the imports from countries which have introduced economic sanctions against Russia. The ban is to take effect on Thursday, August 7th and should be valid for one year. Most of Slovakia’s agricultural and food products are exported to the EU, however the Russian embargo could have a negative effect on the Slovak agricultural sector, warns the Slovak agricultural and Food Chamber. Stanislav Nemec from the chamber claims that given the fact that the EU is one of the biggest business partners of Russia, an embargo on its exports could mean re-directing products to new markets, including Slovakia. This could, in the end cause an influx of suppliers in Slovakia, chase prices down and even endanger local producers.
