MOSCOW, Sept 18 (Reuters) - The Russian government has approved the budget for 2015-17, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Thursday, the first since Moscow annexed Crimea and the West imposed sanctions on Russia for its policy on Ukraine.
"Today the Russian government considered the draft budget for 2015-2017 and accepted the proposals which were prepared by the Finance Ministry," Siluanov told reporters.
Siluanov also said the Russian government had decided not to introduce a sales tax from next year and that the budget envisaged creating an anti-crisis reserve fund for next year of 190 billion roubles ($4.9 billion). (1 US dollar = 38.4650 Russian rouble) (Reporting by Lidia Kelly; Writing by Alexander Winning, editing by Elizabeth Piper)