MOSCOW, September 18 (RAPSI) – In view of the imposed economic sanctions against Russia, the government had to review the budget to provide additional assistance for the sanctions-affected domestic companies, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced on Thursday.

Medvedev said that the draft of the 2015-2017 budget, which would be submitted to the State Duma by October 1, takes into account the economic downturn, decrease in investments and consumer spending, growing inflation and capital flight.

Relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated due to the situation in Ukraine. The European Union and the United States have imposed several waves of anti-Russian economic sanctions over Moscow's alleged role in the Ukrainian internal conflict.

In response to Western sanctions Russia was forced to take measures aimed at replacing imports from Western countries with possible alternatives. On August 7, Moscow banned food imports from the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia and Norway.

In mid-September, European Union introduced a new batch of sanctions, for the first time targeting directly the financing of the state-owned oil sector, which is crucial to the Russian economy. United States in accord strengthened its sanctions shortly after, adding Russia’s Gazprom, Europe’s leading energy provider, to the list of targeted companies.