Draft bill lifting Russian countersanctions on goods in short supply submitted to State Duma
MOSCOW. May 20 (Interfax) - Russian senators Konstantin Kosachyov and Sergei Kislyak have submitted a bill to the State Duma in a bid to give the government the authority to permit the importation of scarce goods, analogues of which are produced in the country, in addition to lifting countersanctions on critical products that have no domestically made analogues.
"It is proposed to amend Part 2 of Article 4 [of the Federal Law "On Measures (Countermeasures) in Response to Unfriendly Actions of the USA and (or) other Foreign States"], supplementing it with a clause allowing the government of the Russian Federation to decide on permitting not only the importation of essential goods which have no analogues made in Russia, but also that of goods which have analogues produced in Russia but which, due to special conditions, e.g., a high alert regime or an emergency situation regime, appear to be in the category of scarce goods," the memo attached to the draft bill published in the State Duma database says.
This bill may apply to face masks and other products currently in short supply, Kosachyov told Interfax.
"This pandemic has shown that essential goods of sanitary or medical use (medical masks, protective clothing, equipment, etc.) may be affected by the response measures. And when it comes to the protection of the health and safety of Russian citizens, we think that such measures should not apply to these kinds of products," Kosachyov said.