It is not just Russia paying the price of Western sanctions due to its policy on Ukraine. Western sanctions went after finance, commerce, energy, and defense industry of Russia. Weeks after Western sanctions, President Putin imposed a one-year ban on many agricultural products from all countries including the European Union, the United States, Australia, Norway, and Canada that participated in imposing sanctions on Russia. As a result many smaller European countries are also feeling the pressure. They include Latvia, Dutch and Finnish farmers, Spain and many other countries.
Instead of curbing gas exports to the EU, Russia went after the EU and other countries agricultural products surprising many. Russia imported more than $6.5 billion worth of food from the EU in 2013 according to some published reports. Agricultural imports included cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, mushrooms, pears, apples, cucumbers, citrus, and many others. Russia going one step further banned imports of meat products including beef, pork and chicken. Exports to Russia constitute of more than 4.2 percent of agricultural exports from the EU countries. The excess agricultural products due to export ban from Russia are now flooding the EU and other countries markets bringing down the price and creating a price war among nations.