Russia's agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor will ban transit of poultry meat and offal produced at European Union enterprises through Russian territory starting August 5. The agency called the measure temporary and precautionary, explaining it as a way to prevent the spread of epizootics and protect consumers.
The formal trigger was an incident involving the detection of an illegal shipment of poultry offal, "allegedly of German origin," from Poland. The cargo crossed the Customs Union border in a vehicle with Polish license plates and was traveling in transit through Russia to Uzbekistan, reportedly under falsified veterinary certificates.
After analyzing its own information systems and a response from the German veterinary service, Rosselkhoznadzor concluded that the product's origin was unknown. The agency also sent a request to Uzbekistan about the source of the illegal supplies and the sender of the goods.
The restrictions do not apply to batches certified and shipped before August 5 — their transit through Russian territory is allowed until August 6 inclusive. The ban will remain in effect until negotiations with the European Commission on the results of the investigation.
Last year, the agency banned the import of livestock products from the entire EU into Russia. This affected tourists as well — they reported that customs officers began confiscating sausages, ham, jamon, cheeses and other products from them.
In June, Rosselkhoznadzor also banned the import and transit through Russia of all quarantine-regulated products from Armenia, explaining the decision by a loss of trust in the Armenian certification system.