Russia threatens to cap western car and clothing imports

 

Russia threatened to escalate a growing trade dispute between the Kremlin and the EU, saying it could cap western car and clothing imports.

The fresh warning came as EU diplomats ended a week-long deadlock on Thursday over a new round of sanctions against the Kremlin, and agreed to trigger measures to block Russia’s largest state-owned oil companies from raising money on European capital markets.

The latest batch of EU sanctions, which will also bar European energy services companies from working on any advanced oil exploration projects in Russia, were agreed following revelations by Nato that Russian troops had moved into east Ukraine in August.

But the signing of a ceasefire between the Russian-backed fighters and President Petro Poroshenko’s government in Kiev led some EU countries to raise concerns about whether to delay the introduction of tough new sanctions.

The measures were due to go into effect at the start of the week, but several EU countries balked, arguing they needed more time to assess whether the Kiev-brokered ceasefire would take hold.