Courtesy of Mish.
On July 30, Moscow blocks Polish fruit, veg imports, mulls EU ban citing “systematic violations of international and Russian phytosanitary requirements”.
Everyone understands this was retaliation for further EU sanctions on Russia.
Russia has slapped a temporary ban on fruit and vegetable imports from Poland, claiming the products breach its standards.
Rosselkhoznador, the country’s federal veterinary and phytosanitary control agency, issued a statement yesterday (30 July) saying it is to introduce a ban on several Polish fruit and vegetable products after it discovered “systematic violations of international and Russian phytosanitary requirements”.
“Rosselkhoznadzor considers it necessary to introduce from 1 August 2014 as a temporary emergency phytosanitary measures restrictions on imports to Russia from Poland and Polish imports through third countries,” the Russian food safety body said.
Items affected include apples, pears and quince, apricot, cherries, plus all vegetables except mushrooms.
In an interview with Reuters, a spokesperson for Rosselkhoznador said the move “was part of a VPSS plan to consider restricting all or some fruit imports from the entire EU”. However he denied the restrictions stemmed from the EU sanctions.
Bloomberg had reported Russia was also mulling the ban of chicken from the US, which has joined the EU in imposing sanctions on parts of the Russian economy.
Revenge
Reuters reports Russian ban on Polish produce is revenge for EU sanctions
Moscow, which buys more than 2 billion euros worth of EU fruit and vegetables a year making it by far the biggest export market for the produce, said the ban was for sanitary reasons and denied a link to the sanctions.
Moscow has frequently been accused in the past of using food safety inspections to restrict trade from countries with which it has political disputes. The EU said it was studying the announcement, describing it as a surprise.
“The embargo amounts to political repression in response to the sanctions imposed by the European Union against Russia,” Poland’s agriculture ministry said in a statement.
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