MOSCOW, January 31 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has stopped imports of pork from EU countries following an outbreak of African swine fever virus in Lithuania, Prime business news agency reported Thursday.
On Saturday Russia restricted pork imports from the Baltic state due to the ASFV outbreak there.
“Under bilateral agreements, all EU countries are obliged to stop imports of pork to Russia due to the ASFV outbreak in Lithuania. We are not accepting such products anymore,” Alexei Alexeyenko, assistant to the head of Russian agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor, told Prime.
He said imports would resume when Russia receives guarantees that products from Lithuania’s neighbors are safe and the virus has been contained.
European Commission spokesman Frederic Vincent described the Russian ban as excessive.
“We think that such measures are disproportional. We will keep in contact with the Russian authorities to have the ban lifted,” he said.
African swine fever, a highly contagious and often fatal illness that affects pigs and wild boars, was first reported in Russia in 2007. Scientists believe the disease was carried to the North Caucasus region by wild boars from neighboring Georgia.
Pig farmers are often forced to slaughter large numbers of their livestock to prevent the spread of the virus. Dozens of outbreaks of the disease were reported across a number of Russian regions last year.
