Europe and Customs Union to join forces to fight ASF

The move follows a meeting with EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg and other EU officials in Moscow on Friday last week.

Fyodorov noted that Russia acts in strict accordance with the World Organisation for Animal Health’s (OiE’s) Terrestrial Animal Health Code and the memorandum on the principles of zoning and regionalisation in the veterinary field.

The Minister also pointed out that Russian experts and their colleagues from the Customs Union are willing to share their experiences in combating the disease with the EU’s veterinary services. Russian veterinary watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor has been battling ASF since 2007 and, although it is often criticised for its inability to contain the spread of the disease, Russian vets have gained huge insights on ASF that could be valuable to their European colleagues.

Regionalisation still required​

However, it seems there is still no progress on the removal of a Russian ban on EU pork imports. Rosselkhoznadzor has recently stated it has no plans to abandon the strict approach to regionalisation of ASF in Europe, despite a lack of pork on the Russian market.

"Russian experts are starting to suspect that the European Commission’s refusal to tackle regionalisation is related to its hopes that there will be a lack of pork in the Russian market and a consequent rise in prices, which will force Russia to agree to the regionalisation proposed by the EU,"​ said head of Rosselkhoznadzor Sergei Dankvert.

However, he noted that any rise in prices on the Russian market caused by this approach has ended and that prices are now coming down.

"The EU’s proposed scheme, which provides a 30-kilometre quarantine zone around the outbreaks, does not stand up to scrutiny, as evidenced by the rapid spread of the disease into Poland following the outbreak in Lithuania. This scheme is based purely on economic interests, but is not justified from a biological safety point of view,"​ claimed Rosselkhoznadzor.

"Despite great interest from some EU countries in resuming pork supplies to Russia, the European Commission has not yet approached the Eurasian Economic Commission to hold negotiations on the proposed new veterinary certificates,"​ added the watchdog.

According to Frederic Vincent, a spokesperson from the European Commission, experts from the EU, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan will meet next week in Vladimir – the site of Russia’s reference laboratory – to discuss the best approach on regionalisation.