MOSCOW, June 1 (RIA Novosti) - Russian customs proposed to businessmen Friday that special "meat checkpoints" be set up at border ports to relieve the workload of ordinary customs checkpoints and ensure better inspections.
"It would allow us to clear the backlog at the customs checkpoints," said Andrei Belyaninov, the director of the Federal Customs Service. "The northwestern and Far Eastern regions are the busiest routes for meat imports into Russia."
In the northwest, Russia borders on Eastern Europe, including Poland, a European Union (EU) member. Moscow's ban on meat imports from Poland has been a sensitive issue in relations with the EU, as it has prevented a new bilateral partnership deal from being signed to replace the current agreement expiring in 2007.
