As a result of the economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and the European Union over the conflict in Ukraine, Russia imposed its own sanctions against imported items, including meat, from the U.S. and the European Union. As a consequence, Russia turned to Brazil as a major source of meat imports in order to meet its domestic demand. In October, Russia imported 33 600 tonnes of poultry from Brazil - six times greater than in October of 2013 - propelling it into the third most important market for Brazilian poultry exports behind to Saudi Arabia and Japan. In the last years Brazil had been exporting approximately 5 000 tonnes of poultry per month to Russia, which accelerated to 20,000 tonnes in September. Higher import requirements are expected for November, ever if sanctions could be lifted at any moment.