Russian watchdog bars imports of Ukrainian pigs, pork from Jan 1

MOSCOW, Dec 25 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary Oversight Service has introduced a temporary prohibition on imports of pigs and pork from Ukraine from 2016, the authority said in a statement late Thursday.

The ban will cover all types of pork products, including the iconic Ukrainian bacon.

The Russian authority said this was due to a deteriorating situation with African swine fever in Ukraine and inadequate efforts of local authorities to monitor the virus spread in the wild.

Russia will impose import duties on Ukrainian goods from January 1, as Kiev will launch a free-trade zone with the E.U. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said earlier that Russia will also prohibit imports from Ukraine of all kinds of goods which were earlier barred by sanctions against the E.U., in fact, this will mean an almost complete food import ban.

End