Russian ban on European meat exporters

Russia, which recently lifted a ban on Polish meat, is now barring chicken and pork imports from 70 European companies, EU officials said Tuesday, ahead of an EU-Russia summit.
The problems emerged in April, according to European Commission officials, when Moscow began refusing certain imports because they contained traces of antibiotics.
Now 70 companies, from seven EU nations -- Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Spain -- have been placed on the Russia embargo list, representing restrictions on produce worth "certainly more" than 100 million euros (156 million dollars) one official explained.
"Of course Russia has the right to its norm and to not want traces of antibiotics," another official said.
"But there must be clear rules which are not applied in an arbitrary manner," he added.
The worst-hit country is Denmark, which has seen its pork exports to Russia halved to the ban hitting its biggest exporters.
The commission suspects Russia is seeking to boost its national producers.
"There is a suspicion," one of the officials said, as the measures appeared "shortly after Russia officials called for higher levels of self-sufficiency in the farm sector."
"And all of a sudden, there are stricter import controls."
He said the matter would be brought up at the EU-Russia summit in Khanty-Mansiysk, Siberia on Friday, "even if no one wants to give it too much importance.”