UPDATE2: Russia may fully ban dairy products from Belarus

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MOSCOW/MINSK, Jun 22 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Oversight may fully ban supplies of dairy products from Belarus due to problems with their quality and security, the watchdog said Wednesday.

During a meeting with Belarusian officials, the watchdog’s Director Sergei Dankvert cited certain examples of dry milk supplies from Belarus which did not comply with technical requirements of the Customs Union.

The watchdog will have to ban dairy product supplies from Belarus entirely or from certain enterprises if such violations are repeated, it said.

Alexei Bogdanov, a department director at Belarus’ Ministry of Agriculture and Food, told PRIME that Belarus had not received any claims over quality of its dairy products from Russia.

Claims over the quality of supplies are probably caused by enterprises that falsify Belarusian brands on the Russian territory, Bogdanov said.

“Some enterprises on the Russian territory, whole plants buy Belarusian quality dry milk, mix it with something, for instance, with whey, and thus decrease the cost of products,” he said.

“We have launched an additional probe, but I can declare that Belarus is not involved in falsification, and only quality dairy products are produced on the territory of Belarus,” he said.

In 2016, Russia already received over 304,000 tonnes of dairy products from Belarus, including over 56,000 tonnes of dry milk products.

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