Russia no longer wants pork products from Moldova

Russia banned imports of pork products from Moldova, said a spokesman for the Russian federal regarding the Rosselhoznadzor agrifood security service after Moscow alleged non-compliance with the Customs Union and the Moscow area.

Aleksei Alekseinko said the ban takes effect from Tuesday and was applied after a company from Moldova sent meat that actually came from Germany, to Russia.

Russia imposed an embargo on pork in the EU in January, after the discovery of cases of swine fever in Lithuania and Poland. The prohibition of Moscow has affected many European countries, especially Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands, which supplies a quarter of the swine exports to the Russian market, the total annual value being of €1.4 billion.

A delegation from Chisinau was in Moscow, on Monday, for talks with the Russian side on the importation of meat products.

Russia recently banned imports of Moldovan wine. The embargo on the pork products occurs when Moldova prepares for signing the Association Agreement with the EU.

Moreover, Russia has been accused on several occasions that they use trade sanctions as an instrument of pressure on the former Soviet republics close to the EU.

Besides Moldova, Georgia and the Baltic countries are currently covered by an embargo from Russia. In addition, Moscow announced on Monday that they partially suspended the import of milk products from Ukraine, during the crisis between the two countries after the annexation of the Crimean peninsula.