Moscow extends EU meat import ban

摘要

"We want to create conditions allowing our country to realise its competitive potential, to make itself a good place on the international market and to protect our population against the negative consequences and excessive dependence on imports," said Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, on 14 July, on the eve of an announcement by his veterinary services of a series of additional restrictions on the import of meat from eight EU countries, including France, Spain, Germany, Denmark and Italy. Negotiations to restart European exports of meat products, launched following the first restrictions decreed in April then in mid-June, are at a standstill, acknowledged the European Commission. Moscow criticises the lack of reactivity of several European countries to reduce the level of antibiotic residue present in their exported meat products.