The government will consider lifting its ban on livestock imports from the European Union only after it allows Russia to return diseased cattle to EU countries, said Sergei Dankvert, chief of the Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary Inspection Service, Interfax reported.
"The EU countries are constantly mentioning to us the matter of resuming livestock supplies to Russia," he said. "They're saying that the risk level is insignificant, but we see the possibility of discussing this matter only after the EU solves the problem of returning livestock that, despite guarantees by European veterinary services, are delivered to us with diseases."
Russia slapped a ban on supplies of cattle and sheep from the EU in January 2012 due to the fact that a new virus called Schmallenberg had cropped up in several European countries, predominantly Germany.
(MT)
