Russia to compile new register of EU suppliers if ban lifted

ATHENS, Apr 20 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Oversight will not allow an automatic restart of food supplies if the country’s food import ban is lifted and will compile a new register of E.U. exporters, Alexei Alekseyenko, aide to the service’s director, told PRIME Monday.

“(Russia) will not let this happen, because much time has passed, the situation has changed, including in diseases, in control of the companies, and the market has changed very deeply. Of course, we will not be able to automatically restart supplies from companies that had been approved before the restrictions,” Alekseyenko said.

“There will be an absolutely new register of companies, and they will be checked by the service and competent services of other countries of the Eurasian Economic Union.”

But Russia may resume imports of some E.U. food as regulations of the World Trade Organization (WTO) do not cover the sanctions, and Russia may on its own decide which imports should be permitted, he said.

“In fact, sanctions are a game without rules. And we faced it when the Western countries imposed these massive sanctions. They are not envisaged by any WTO’s regulations. On the contrary, WTO envisages a full-scale wide exchange of goods without any restrictions, including political ones.”

“What final decision will be made on the issue is a decision to be made by the highest political authorities of our country.”

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