MOSCOW: Russia says firms from Cyprus, Greece, and Hungary – the leading critics of EU sanctions – will be first in line to restart food exports if relations improve.
Sergei Dankvert, the head of Russia’s food safety authority, Rosselkhoznadzor, made the announcement at a press briefing in Moscow on Tuesday (19 May).
He said about 20 companies from the three states, 15 of them from Hungary, already qualify following technical inspections.
He noted Russia would like to go further, but complained the issue is clouded by politics.
“There’s a lot of talk about the fate of Polish apples in the domestic market. Frankly, Russia might not be against their export. The issue should be decided on an individual basis by agreement between the two countries. But at the slightest attempt to make contact with Poland our country is accused of trying to divide European states,” he said, Russian media report.
Moscow imposed the ban on most EU food exports last August in retaliation against EU economic measures on its banks, arms firms, and energy companies.
The Russian sanctions expire on 7 August.
The EU measures end in July unless they are renewed by consensus. But EU leaders, at a summit in March, announced a “political agreement” to extend them until the end of the year.
Dankvert said his “minimal estimate” is that Russian counter-sanctions have cost EU exporters “approximately $3.5 billion” in “direct losses”.
He noted Russia has, in the meantime, increased imports of cheese, other dairy products, and sea food from Asia, Latin America, and north Africa.
“The ‘forbidden’ foods have been absent from our shelves for almost a year, and … we have somehow survived”, he said.
He claimed that the Russian ban, including an earlier one on pork, linked to complaints about African swine fever, has created piles of unsold goods in Europe. “Their warehouses are overstocked now”, he said.
