The funding is compensation for fresh produce which will not be sold. Instead it will be distributed free to schools, hospitals and other institutions.

 

Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, grapes and pears are included in the scheme.

 

Russia has banned many food imports, angry at EU-US sanctions over Ukraine.

 

Germany's Chancellor¹ Angela Merkel insisted on Monday that the EU sanctions must stay in place "in order to show how serious we are" on the Ukraine crisis.

 

She was speaking in Latvia, an EU member state with a large ethnic² Russian minority. Its Baltic neighbour Lithuania is especially hard hit by the Russian import ban.

 

EU and US sanctions are targeting top Russian officials and key economic sectors³, such as energy and finance, as Western leaders accuse the Kremlin of destabilising eastern Ukraine by supporting the pro-Russian separatists there. 

 

The first round of Western sanctions came after Russia annexed⁴ Crimea in March.

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