April 24 2015, 10:52 Hungary Today

Russia sends agriculture experts to Hungary as food import ban likely to end

Experts of Russia’s plant and animal health authority Rosselkhoznadzor have arrived in Hungary to start reviews Hungarian companies must undergo to regain entry to the Russian market, a farm ministry official said. Lajos Bognár, Hungary’s chief veterinarian, said the Russians, together with their Hungarian colleagues, would check two companies a day. Alexey Alekseyenko, a representative of Rosselkhoznadzor, earlier told Russian news portals that about two dozen companies in Hungary and Greece were being scrutinised by Rosselkhoznadzor. The reviews will wind up by April 30 and results will be published a few days later, he added.

Russia introduced an embargo on food imports from Europe last August, as a counter-measure to sanctions by the West because of the crisis in Ukraine. However, Russian Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fyodorov said in March that his ministry was considering softening its ban on food imports from some European Union countries, including Hungary. Moscow is “in intense discussions on different possibilities to answer the question of whether we can find a positive answer to liberalize shipments of products to our market. There are options, which we are discussing, there are two or three options, which are close to possible implementation,” the minister said.