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Customs Union may limit food imports from Ukraine, official warns

The Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia may impose restrictions on food imports from Ukraine over what it views as a possible loosening of safety controls, Sergei Dankvert, head of Russia’s Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary Monitoring Service (Rosselkhoznadzor), said following his meeting with Yury Pivavarchyk, Belarus' chief state veterinary inspector, in Bryansk on Tuesday.

Mr. Dankvert said that he and the Belarusian official were "very much concerned about the situation in Ukraine," according to the Interfax news agency. He reportedly added that possible restrictions could also be imposed on the transit transportation of Ukrainian food through the Customs Union.

Mr. Dankvert raised questions over the conditions of Ukrainian veterinary experts' work. "And if the Ukrainian service's work conditions do not improve in the near future and, moreover, if its leadership is changed, it will have certain consequences for the business relations built in the past few years," he warned.

The official would not say to what products such restrictions could apply.

Speaking about the results of the talks with Mr. Pivavarchyk, the Russian official said that an agreement had been reached for joint efforts to monitor the possible spread of animal disease in Russia's Bryansk province and Belarus' Homyel region. //BelaPAN