Russia will lift import ban for European vegetables only after the European Union provides all the requested information, Russia's chief sanitary official said.
The European Commission urged Russia on Thursday to lift its ban on the import of raw vegetables from EU nations over a deadly E.coli outbreak.
"The ban will be lifted when the causative agent of the infectious disease and causes of contamination, as well as [infection] transmission factors are established, outbreak of the stomach infection is taken under control and the growth in the numbers of those infected is curbed," Gennady Onishchenko said.
He said so far Russia had no reasons to lift the ban at the moment.
Media reports say at least 1,600 people in 10 EU countries have been affected by the Escherichia coli outbreak, including more than 1,000 in northern Germany. Deutsche Presse Agentur reported that 17 people have died, all in Germany except one Swede who had returned home after a recent visit to Germany.
MOSCOW, June 2 (RIA Novosti)
