Russia blocks Lithuanian dairy imports

Россия блокирует импорт молочной продукции из Литвы. Это приводит к росту напряженности в российско-литовских отношениях.

Russian consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said in mid September that it was applying additional measures to Lithuanian dairy products following safety and quality tests. Several samples, it said, did not comply with the
technical requirements for dairy products of the Customs Union.
Onishchenko is the Kremlin’s point man in the trade wars it has been rolling out in recent weeks in a bid to halt the move of former Soviet states to the west. Insisting they should join its Customs Union instead, Moscow is furiously trying to prevent Ukraine and Moldova – amongst others – from agreeing association and trade pacts with the EU at a summit in November. As holder of the rotating EU presidency, Lithuania will host the event, and has offered much
encouragement to the pair to stay the course.
On top of its control of the region’s gas supplies – which it used to help persuade Armenia to quit the EU route recently – Moscow is also selecting sensitive economic sectors via which it hopes to exert pressure. Onishchenko recently announced import bans against Ukrainian chocolate and a host of other goods, and Moldovan wine.
By way of contrast, it was hardly coincidental that he recently reopened the Russian market to Georgian wine and water. The reintroduction of those imports from the Caucasus followed a seven-year ban, and accompanied a new
government in Tbilisi more friendly to Moscow. While Georgia is also due to agree a preliminary EU agreement, it is also rapidly moving closer to Russia just five years after the pair fought a war.
Growing tension
However, Russia has also shown it’s not afraid to go after EU states either. While pressure is growing on other eastern EU states – Poland in particular – Lithuania is a major target. On top of its leading role in the summit, Vilnius is also
in the midst of tough talks over a new gas deal with Gazprom, and with the Baltic state looking to leverage several points the tension between the two countries is growing daily.
Huge lines of Lithuanian trucks are currently stuck at Russian customs posts due to expanded administrative procedures since the start of September. Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius – often criticized as being too soft on Russia – claimed on September 19 that the situation is getting close to an “economic war” against his country.
Since, Lithuanian officials have issued (barely) veiled threats that Vilnius could disrupt transport and other links to the Russia enclave of Kaliningrad. Brussels has also heavily backed the country in the fight. On October 3, the EU announced it is now drawing up a charge sheet stemming from its year-long anti-trust investigation into Gazprom’s contracts in the CEE region.
That the Lithuanian transport sector is under the spotlight is no accident; thanks to the country’s posting, it’s a key industry. Lithuanian dairy producers meanwhile are hugely exposed; the country sells 50% of its output overseas. A whopping 85% of those exports head to Russia, reports Itass.
The small Baltic state is not alone in the EU however. Moscow also threatened Polish meat and dairy imports in late September, while food standards agency Rosselkhoznadzor said on October 9 that it is tightening checks on dairy
imports from the Netherlands.
That comes in the wake of rapidly souring relations between Moscow and The Hague. The Dutch have taken the lead in the international response to the detention of 30 Greenpeace activists and their ship, launching a legal case via the UN. Meanwhile, Russia reacted furiously to reports that Dutch police arrested a Russian diplomat on October 5.
The Netherlands said the authorities acted after being alerted to potential child abuse at the house of deputy ambassador Dmitry Borodin.
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