New sanctions: Russia imposed ban on meat imports from Belarus

The Russian Agency for Health and Consumer Rights imposed restrictions on importing products of Homel and Brest meat processing plants. Sanctions can be extended to some more enterprises.

As the official website of the agency informs, the ban has been imposed “because forbidden or harmful substances were found in livestock products of Belarusian meat processing plants during monitoring.”

“If products of these enterprises, shipped before July 21, 2009, are delivered, a decision on passing good is taken in a normal way,” the statement says.

A “milk scandal” stirred up between Russia and Belarus in June: the Russian Agency for Health and Consumer Rights banned imports of Belarusian dairy products because documents didn’t meet new Russian technical regulations. The parties managed to reach compromise in the end. Supplies were partially resumed, but the Belarusian side must fulfil the technical regulations by August 1.

Besides, supplies of Belarusian agricultural equipment are practically stopped, imports of Russian meat to Belarus and import of Belarusian medicines to Russia is banned. Gazprom’s head Aleksey Miller said in early July that Belarus’s debt for gas was $244 millions, and Gazprom would go to law or reduce gas supplies if Minsk didn’t pay the debt in July.