Russia has imposed a ban on the import and transit of all crop products from Ukraine starting from October 22, 2014, Russia’s veterinary and phytosanitary watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor said.
“Since Rosselkhoznadzor has not received a reply to its queries from the Ukrainian state phytosanitary service, and also bearing in mind the entire set of threats and risks stemming from the current situation, Alexey Saurin (the deputy chief of Rosselkhoznadzor) made a decision to impose temporary restrictions on all import and transit through its territory of crop products from Ukraine,” Itar Tass reported.
Earlier, the Russian agricultural watchdog asked its Ukrainian counterpart to provide information about the vegetables and fruit being supplied to Russia that might prove re-export items from the EU countries. It set October 21, 2014 as the deadline.
In August, Russia embargoed all key groups of foodstuff, including vegetables and fruit from the EU countries in response to sanctions against Russia over the Ukrainian crisis.
Denmark also announced that its pig farmers will lose $680 million this year from Russia’s food embargo or twice as much as was earlier expected.
Danish Foreign Minister Martin Lidegor said a total of 9.5 million European famers have been affected by Russia’s food embargo, according to a statement released earlier by the EU. The European Commission said in September that Europe’s agrarian exports cut by Russia’s food embargo were estimated at €5 billion.
Russia introduced a package of counter-measures on August 7 in retaliation to the sanctions imposed by the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union and Norway against Moscow over its stance on developments in neighboring Ukraine. Russia’s counter-sanctions involve a one-year ban on food and agricultural imports from the countries that slapped sanctions against Moscow.
The European Commission has stated several times since August it will allocate funds to support European agricultural producers affected by Russia’s food embargo.
