Russia’s Federal Customs Service has announced a significant fall in the volume of the trade turnover between Russia and Ukraine against the backdrop of the political crisis between the two countries, the Interfax news agency reports.
"The trade turnover on the Russian-Ukrainian border reduced by 20% for selected products - tea, fruits and vegetables, instruments, building materials, and other commodity groups," the Federal Customs Service’s first deputy head Vladimir Malinin told reporters in Rostov-on-Don on Thursday.
"But the Russian side is not making a problem out of this, and there are no critical situations on the border,” he said.
Malinin also said that Russia is currently establishing customs posts on the border in the Crimea. "A state border is currently being organized on Perekop, and the customs service is organizing posts there. Russian customs officials are already there, performing manual customs clearance of both trains and automobiles,” he said.
