Rosselkhoznadzor Bans Imports Of Fruit And Vegetables “From Africa” Through Belarus

Under the guise of African products, products from the countries on which a food embargo had been imposed by Russia, were imported to the country.

Since June 27 the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) bans imports of vegetables and fruit from a number of African states through Belarus.

As the Service informs, it concerns Ivory Coast, Benin, Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic and Mali.

The reason for that was suspicion that under the guise of African production, products from the countries on which a food embargo had been imposed by Russia, were imported to Russia. The suspicion is based upon absence of information about imports of these goods to the EU countries, and about their further movement across the European territory.

The ban is imposed on pears, apples, strawberries, tomatoes, mushrooms, watermelons, grapes, figs, sweet cherry, leeks, bulb onions, scallions.

Imports of these products are allowed only through international border-crossing points, through the national border of Russia, when information from African countries about dispatch of cargo is received.

As it had been informed, a meeting of Rosselkhoznadzor representatives and the European Commission Directorate General for Health and Food Safety is scheduled for June 30 in the Hague. It is planned to discuss issues related to imports of products from African countries.

“At the upcoming meeting our European colleagues are to explain us, in which way 8.7 thousand tons of peaches, pears, strawberry, kiwi fruit, bell peppers, tomatoes, nectarines and some other goods, while these products had not been imported according to European foreign trade statistics,” – Interfax was told by Rosselkhoznadzor’s head Sergei Dankvert earlier.

Besides, the origin of about 10,000 tons of fruit and vegetables from Burkina Faso, 7,400 tons from Guinea, 11,900 tons from Guinea-Bissau, 24,300 tons from Cameroon, 17,700 tons from Ivory Coast, 17,000 tons from Liberia, are to be explained. “There is no information about arrivals of these goods in the European foreign trade statistics,” – he explained.

Meanwhile, the Ambassador of Benin to Russia has already stated that the country does not grow some fruits, which had been delivered to Russia under the guise of fruits of Benin origin.