MOSCOW: Russian Customs has lifted ban on dairy imports from Serbia on the guarantees of the Serbian veterinary service and the results of expert analysis proving that the recently identified problems were corrected.
Some experts were of the view that this move is aimed at an apparent attempt to woo the Serbia an EU membership candidate amid Russia’s standoff with the West. As Russia had introduced a one-year ban on meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables from the United States, the EU, Canada, Australia and Norway, earlier this month, it has been also searching new markets for trade.
Moreover, Serbia was one of the few European countries not affected by the Russian food import restrictions, which were introduced in retaliation to Western sanctions against Moscow.
Moscow has asked several countries, such as Brazil, to increase exports of food to Russia to offset the impact of the sanctions.
It said that some of the Serbian firms had previously been banned for unspecified breaches of food regulations.
