Fish day

Gennady Onishchenko has no complaints about Estonian products

Estonian frozen fish will not suffer the same fate as Latvian sprats in the near future - Rospotrebnadzor is not going to impose sanctions against products from the neighboring republic. In any case, this very idea of ​​declaring war on Estonian suppliers was yesterday denied by the chief sanitary doctor of Russia, Gennady Onishchenko, making it clear that his department should not be considered solely as an instrument of pressure on neighbors.

The surprisingly peaceful statement by the head of Rospotrebnadzor came on the eve of the Russia-EU summit scheduled for this week, and perhaps it was the reluctance to multiply problems before this meeting that determines his tone. However, the sanitary department did not remain aloof from the conflict that flared up between the two countries due to the relocation of the monument in Tallinn. At the end of April, Rospotrebnadzor began to actively check the structure of supplies from Estonia “for its compliance with safety and quality requirements.” No one has yet officially published the results of the checks, however, judging by Mr. Onishchenko’s statement yesterday, “there are no problems yet.”

However, it must be admitted that Russian shelves are by no means overwhelmed with goods from Estonia and gaps similar to those that were created after the ban on the supply of Moldovan and Georgian wine to Russia cannot be expected. The share of Estonia's exports to Russia is only 8.8% of this country's total exports, and the trade turnover between our countries in 2006 was estimated at 1.5 billion euros. Fish comes from Estonia to Russia, mostly frozen. These seafood make up one fifth of Estonia's total fish exports. In addition, this country, for example, supplies agricultural crops such as rapeseed to Russia.

The public relations department of Rospotrebnadzor also denied the existence of “political will” to conduct inspections and quoted to the Vremya Novostey correspondent the norms according to which the department has the legal right to conduct scheduled inspections of any products every two years. In cases where there are statements from citizens or the threat of infectious diseases, Rospotrebnadzor receives the right to any number of unscheduled inspections.

Irina BELASHEVA