After much speculation about Belarus being used for gray channel imports into Russia, the ex-Soviet country has confirmed the interception of produce from banned EU countries.

Russia's Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) said there were 11 separate cases in which it prevented entry of unauthorized food imports, totaling more than 93 metric tons (MT).

Russian President Vladimir Putin

In two of these cases the countries of origin were said to be banned countries Spain and Hungary, and the shipments were accompanied by phytosanitary certificates issued by Belarus' Main State Inspectorate for Seed Production, Quarantine and Plant Protection of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

In a further nine of the interceptions, the shipments were unaccompanied by phytosanitary certificates.

There is no indication yet as to the specific banned agricultural items that were denied entry into Russia.

Rosselhoznadzor is now preparing an appeal to Belarus' Ministry of Agriculture and Food requesting that comprehensive measures be adopted to prevent such incidents in the future.

Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Federal Customs Service Director Andrei Belyaninov, who assured him there were "no worries" concerning either exports or imports, and that response measures had been implemented in accordance with the European Union sanctions.

"We have planned this work, organised the activities to implement your Executive Order, and are working together with the customs services in Belarus and Kazakhstan, because these two countries’ economic interests are not in fact affected by all of the instructions that we have received," Belyaninov said.

"We believe that we can do everything needed to prevent poor quality goods from entering our territory. I think that we are capable of carrying out this task."

Click here for more stories relating to the Russian ban.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

www.freshfruitportal.com