Rossiyskaya Gazeta writes that the Minister of Agriculture, Alexander Tkachev, said on the air of the Rossiya 24 channel that according to the estimations of the Ministry of Agriculture, the losses of agrarians from the introduction of duties on Russian wheat, maize, rice, sunflower meal and other products by Turkey will be from 1.3 to 1.5 billion dollars a year.

The minister called the "kick in the back" the introduction of duties on March 15, which could lead to an almost complete halt in the export of agricultural raw materials to Turkey.

The head of the Ministry of Agriculture said: "For us it's bad, but not critical.". We hope that we will find new markets in case of an emergency ". He also confirmed that Russia is not going to lift the ban on the import of Turkish tomatoes, this should support domestic producers.

Tkachev said: "For us it is fundamentally.

In recent years, the development of vegetable growing is our prestige, we have involved hundreds of entrepreneurs in this business, and we have a real opportunity to fully close the vegetable deficit within three or five years ".

Minister of Agriculture expressed hope that Russia and Turkey will be able to find a compromise. On Tuesday, April 16 at the level of vice premiers, the parties agreed within two weeks to agree on a schedule for the lifting of mutual restrictions.