Imports of EU vegetables could resume in June - Onishchenko
MOSCOW. June 22 (Interfax) - The European Union's vegetable exports to Russia could resume before the end of June, Russian Chief Sanitary Official Gennady Onishchenko has announced.
"I am not going to engage in reading tea leaves, but I don't see any problems," Onishchenko told reporters in Moscow on Wednesday.
Russia expects the EU to provide a list of laboratories that will confirm the safety of vegetables, he said.
"This problem can be solved in just a couple of days, if desired. It takes a long time to get information from Siberia. From Europe it will arrive quickly," he joked.
An agreement was practically reached on June 9 that vegetable imports will resume from the Netherlands. "The Netherlands, unlike the European Commission, accepted the Russian conditions right away," Onishchenko said.
The Netherlands is one of the key exporters of vegetables to Russia.