Russia temporarily prohibits import in Moldovan vegetables, fruits to Russian market via Belarus

Chisinau, 14 March /MOLDPRES/ - The Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor), starting from 14 March, temporarily suspended the import of vegetables and fruits with Moldovan Phytosanitary certificates to the Russian market via Belarus.    

Russia suspects that re-exports of apples and pears are carried out from the European Union under Moldova’s trademark through Belarus. In early March, Rosselkhoznadzor Head Sergey Dankvert said that Russia would toughen the rules of entering its market by the adoption of measures due to oblige Moldovan exporters of apples and pears to deliver the goods only through the checkpoints from Russia, placed in the Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk regions, and the import certificates would be subjected to a rigorous control.     

“The volume of vegetal products, as well as their morphology suggests that, under the pretext of being from Moldova, supplies of products from EU are, in fact,   carried out. In this respect, Rosselkhoznadzor does not rule out possibility to introduce restrictions on the import of such goods for the companies which were involved in such illegal schemes,” says a communiqué by the Russian inspection, issued in last January.   

Journalists’ investigations show that hundreds of tons of apples from Poland, with origin certificates from Moldova, are exported to Belarus and subsequently re-exported to Russia. At the same time, the National Anticorruption Centre opened a criminal file against a decision-maker from the National Food Safety Agency.

The Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance banned the import of fruits from Moldova on 21 June 2014. The Russian authority reasoned the decision by the fact that the Moldovan producers would have violated the phytosanitary requirements. Moldova described that ruling as political. In mid-2015, the exports were resumed as an experiment, and the number of companies authorized to make supplies to the Russian market gradually increased.   

About 93 per cent of the exports of apples, estimated at 43.7 million dollars, and 80 per cent of the exports of plums, estimated at 21.1 million dollars, have been earlier directed to Russia.  

(Reporter V. Bercu, editor A. Raileanu)