MOSCOW, June 26 (RAPSI) - State Duma lawmaker Igor Zotov (A Just Russia party) has sent a petition to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev with a proposal to ban imports of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in addition to the current food import embargo, Izvestia reports on Friday.

Zotov argues that the drink manufacturers support the major political powers in the US, the newspaper writes.

In August 2014, Russia limited imports of certain food products from the countries that imposed sanctions, including the US, the EU, Canada, Australia and Norway, for a year. On Thursday, the Russian government published a resolution to extend the embargo until August 5, 2016.

“In order to support the President and the Government in the counter-sanctions, we propose restrictions on imports from The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo that are official supporters of the US Republican Party and the US Democratic Party respectively, which, in turn, are lobbying for extending the sanctions against Russia,” Izvestia cities the parliament member’s address to the Prime Minister.

Zotov also claims that the drinks are extremely unhealthy and have an adverse effect on public health.