Russia contemplates ban on fruit imports from Serbia

The Russian food safety watchdog has said that it might consider banning all fruit imports from Serbia if the country does not control illegal consignments.

Russian news agency RIA said that the ban was being considering as it suspected that the fruits being imported from Serbia could have been re-exported from Poland, which is currently under a food embargo.

Russia had banned all fruit imports from European Union nations in August, in retaliation to Western sanctions over Russia’s involvement in the Ukrainian crisis.

The EU had blamed Russia of providing weaponry and other support to pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, allegations that the country has denied.

RIA quoted spokeswoman for the watchdog Yulia Trofimova as saying that if Serbia failed to respond, Russia would impose a ban on imports of fruits and all other plants from Serbia within 10 days.

Reuters quoted a trade ministry official, Stevan Nikcevic, who told state-run RTS TV: "According to scrutiny by the Trade Ministry, we have no information that could indicate abuses in terms of re-exports of goods… to Russia."

Serbia’s trade minister, Rasim Ljajic, was quoted by Serbian newspaper Vecernje Novosti as saying that the country would carry out an investigation urgently, as they could not let one or two exporters to jeopardise the free-trade agreement between the two countries.

Russia and Serbia entered a free trade agreement in 2000, and have been allies owing to their shared Orthodox Christian faith.

RT reported that after the food embargo was introduced, export of apples from Serbia to Russia has increased by 48% to 118,000 tonnes, worth $98m.

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Image: Russia might ban fruit imports from Serbia if it finds that the country is re-exporting fruits from Poland that is currently under a Russian embargo. Photo: courtesy of tuelekza/freedigitalphotos.net.