BRUSSELS, November 22 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's veterinary watchdog has warned the European Commission of possible restrictions on products of animal origin as of next year, an EU representative said Wednesday.
Philip Tod said the Russian authorities will hopefully accept the EU's assurances that the necessary measures have already been taken in Brussels.
A spokesman for the Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Oversight confirmed that Russia will possibly introduce restrictions if the European Union fails to provide extra security and quality guarantees in regard to some countries.
"The European Union decided to include Bulgaria and Romania [as new members], but these countries are unsafe in the sense of veterinary quality," the spokesman said.
He said "the movement of goods within the European Union is unrestricted," and it cannot guarantee the safety of products exported to Russia.
"There are diseases which are as dangerous for animals as for people," he said.
Russia introduced an embargo on imports of Polish meat and poultry products November 10, saying that it was concerned with violations of veterinary regulations. Russia already banned agricultural imports from Poland last year, citing health risks.
But Warsaw said the embargo was in retaliation for Poland's support of the "orange revolution" in Ukraine in late 2004, when Western-leaning political forces came to power in the former Soviet state.
Poland, in turn, said it intends to veto talks between Russia and EU on the replacement of the current Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which expires in 2007, demanding that Moscow first ratify the Energy Charter with Europe and lift an embargo on Polish agricultural exports to Russia.
Earlier Wednesday, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, the Russian president's top aide, said Poland must focus on the problem of poor-quality meat supplies to Russia, which he said was a routine problem irrelevant to Russia-EU relations.
"We are aware that Poland knows how to deal with the problem, and I do not think that red tape and delays in solving the problem should complicate relations between Russia and the EU," he said.
He said the fact that Poland has opened criminal cases related to deliveries of poor-quality meat suggests that the country concedes the use of counterfeit supply certificates.
"However, all 24 cases have been closed lately on some vague pretexts, but that is a different question," the official said.
