Agriculture, Baltic States – CIS, EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Lithuania, Markets and Companies, Russia

Such a decision was made after the unsuccessful bilateral negotiations.

"According to the Commission, the actions taken by Russia () are inadequate because Lithuania and Poland have taken all possible measures to localize the focus of the fever. Such large-scale ban on the import, according to the Commission, is out of the proportion," said European Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union, Audit and Anti-Fraud Algirdas Semeta.

Semeta highlighted that it was difficult to predict the further course of the conflict. According to the European Commissioner, the most important thing was that the Commission did not support the inadequate Russia's actions and demonstrated that it would take all actions in its disposition, if Russia continued imposing the measures that were against the international trade rules.

"It is difficult to forecast the further Russia's actions," said Semeta.

As reported, Russia has banned imports of all kinds of prefabricated meat products from Poland and Lithuania from April 7, a spokesman for Russia's Federal Service for Veterinary Supervision told ITAR-TASS on Wednesday. "We have been preparing a letter which informs that Russia will join measures earlier taken by Belarus - Russia's partner in the Customs Union, in respect to the restrictions of the imports of all kinds of meat products from Poland and Lithuania to the territory of Belarus," the spokesman explained.

The ban goes into effect on April 7, 2014 and will remain in force until the inspections of Polish and Lithuanian meat production enterprises, which will be differentiated on a regional basis, are conducted. Making this decision, the watchdog took into account an unconstructive position assumed by Poland and Lithuania at the talks held in the end of March, at which problems of safety of meat products were discussed, the source said.

Earlier, a ban on imports of pork to Russia from all EU countries had been imposed (on January 30, 2014) in connection with an outbreak of African swine fever on the territory of the European Union.

The Russian Federal Service for Veterinary Supervision had earlier criticized Polish and Lithuanian meat producers for using technologies which made it possible to substitute the ingredients; for instance, products labeled as processed poultry might contain some pork. The Russian agency expressed concern that thermal meat processing might not always be effective to destroy the virus of the African swine fever, which was fraught with the threat that the virus would be brought to the territory of the Russian Federation.