MOSCOW: Russia retaliated against tough new Western sanctions on Thursday, banning most food imports from the United States and the European Union and threatening to block flights through its airspace.

The 28-member European Union swiftly denounced the measures — which also targeted Canada and Australia — and said it was ready to take action in response.

The tit-for-tat moves further heighten tensions between Russia and the West over the conflict in Ukraine, where heavy shelling was reported in the rebel-held eastern city of Donetsk on Thursday.

Russia imports 35 per cent of the food it consumes and is Europe’s second-largest market. Food and agricultural goods account for 10 per cent of all EU exports to Russia, which were worth $16 billion last year, according to Eurostat data.

The embargo would affect “imports of beef, pork, fruit and vegetable produce, poultry, fish, cheese, milk and dairy products from the European Union, the United States, Australia, Canada and Norway,” Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told a government meeting. The ban exempted only baby food and would last one year unless “our partners demonstrate a constructive approach” with regard to sanctioning Russia, he said.

“I hope that the economic pragmatism of our partners will win over lousy political motives,” he said.

Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fyodorov said that restrictions on the “inessential” imports would not hurt consumers in Russia.

The European Commission said the measures were “clearly politically motivated”. “We reserve the right to take action as appropriate,” it said in a statement.

In another potential strike against the West, Moscow is considering banning the use of Russian airspace for European airlines, the so-called overflight rights needed to take the shortest route to Asia.

US airlines have not been allowed to use Siberian airspace for years and have been pushing the Russian government to review its policy.

The overflight measure is being mulled in response to EU sanctions effectively grounding Dobrolet, a low-cost subsidiary of Russia’s flagship Aeroflot over its flights to Russia’s annexed Crimean peninsula on US-made Boeing craft, which EU companies service and lease.

Fugitive US intelligence operative Edward Snowden had been granted a three-year residence permit in Russia, his lawyer said at a press conference.

“The request was accepted and accordingly Edward Snowden was given a three-year residence permit” which allowed him to move about freely and travel abroad, lawyer Anatoly Kucherena told journalists. “In the future Edward will have to decide whether to continue to live in Russia and become a citizen or to return to the United States,” the lawyer added.

The 31-year-old US fugitive is wanted in the United States on espionage charges. He was granted leave to stay in Russia a year ago after spending weeks in the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport when his passport was revoked on his way to South America.

The leaks by the former National Security Agency contractor last year sparked a massive row over the data sweeps conducted by the United States domestically and in allied nations, including of their leaders.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2014