MOSCOW, November 18 (Sputnik) — Russia has temporarily restricted imports of meat and livestock from Montenegro due to illegal re-exports from the European Union, a spokesperson for Russia’s agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.
“We have expressed our mistrust of the veterinary service of Montenegro due to numerous cases of EU meat being re-exported [to Russia from Montenegro]. The restrictions target all meat and livestock and are coming into force on November 18,” Alexei Alexeyenko said.
Russia banned imports of finished meat products from the country following an inspection on October 13. Up until today, three companies in Montenegro were authorized to deliver meat to Russia.
Rosselkhoznadzor has previously stated that it may impose a ban on fruit and vegetable imports from Albania and Macedonia due to possible re-export from the EU. The Russian agricultural watchdog limited fruit imports from Ukraine in late October over the same issue.
On August 7, Moscow issued a ban on the import of certain food products from the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia and Norway in response to several rounds of sanctions imposed on Russia over its alleged involvement in the Ukrainian crisis.
