Russia bans pork imports from Moldova
Russia introduced a ban on Tuesday on the imports of ready-to-eat pork products from Moldova, the press-secretary of the Russian veterinary watchdog Aleksey Alekseyenko said.
According Alekseyenko the reason for the ban is that the Russian veterinary specialists cannot be sure that Moldova is exporting real Moldova-made products to Russia.
Earlier the inspectorate found many cases of imports from European Union (EU) countries disguised as Moldavian products. The inspectorate also reported on the prevention of pork smuggling from the EU – as some pork was disguised to be from Latvia to Ukraine.
Pork exports from all EU countries to Russia are currently banned due to the outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) in Lithuania and Poland.
According to the Russian veterinary specialists, to avoid the ban Moldova will have to create a system that prevents any possibility of re-export of products from the third countries and in the first place from the countries of the EU.
However, Russian officials say that the country will probably not be able to do that, as it currently is preparing to sign the Free Trade Zone Agreement with the EU, which will completely eliminate any custom barriers.
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