ECONOMY

Russia restricts imports of meat from parts of Greece

Citing disease outbreaks, Russia’s food safety watchdog announced fresh restrictions on imports of livestock and beef from southern Europe on Wednesday – seen as a response to Western sanctions imposed over Moscow’s Ukraine policy.

Following an outbreak of mad cow disease near Cluj in Romania, Russia’s Rosselkhoznadzor said it was ordering temporary restrictions on the import of cattle, beef, and cow feed containing animal protein from the European Union country.

Blaming outbreaks of bluetongue, a viral disease affecting sheep and cattle, the watchdog said it was also introducing temporary restrictions on imports of cattle and other susceptible animals from Bulgaria and some regions of Italy and Greece.

Some of the restrictions came into effect on Wednesday while others will on Thursday, said the watchdog, which is part of the Agricultural Ministry.

The Romanian veterinary agency ANSVSA immediately hit back saying Moscow cannot ban a “trade that doesn’t exist, since Romania does not export either beef or cattle to Russia.”

It said that Romania was “not confronting a BSE epidemic but one isolated case, the first since 1995,” adding that the World Organization for Animal Health said there was a “negligible risk” of the disease spreading.

[AFP]

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