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Macedonia to conduct checkup on alleged re-export agricultural products from EU to Russia

20 November 2014 03:35 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The Macedonian government requested state institutions to initiate a two-day systematic checkup on alleged re-export agricultural products from the European Union (EU) to Russia on Wednesday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

According to earlier reports, Russia alleged Tuesday that Macedonia was suspected of re-exporting fruits and vegetables originated from the EU to Russia, the products banned by Russia, and warned that if the Macedonian government do not answer within one week they would ban Macedonian exports.

The Macedonian Interior Ministry, the Customs, the Food and Agriculture Agency and the Agriculture Inspection Bureau started to cooperate immediately to investigate if there is any company breach the legal rules and regulations set bilaterally, Macedonian Economy Minister Bekim Neziri said.

"We will have a detailed research on the suspected list handed by Russian Imports Agency and if we find such act we will use all available means including initiate criminal prosecute against the individuals or companies who did that," Neziri added.

Russia introduced on Aug. 7 a ban on products such as meat, fruit and vegetables from the EU, Norway, the United States, Canada and Australia in retaliation to Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.