Russia allowed imports of vegetables from Greece and the Czech Republic yesterday (11 July) on the basis of certificates guaranteeing their safety.
Earlier, Moscow had resumed imports from Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Denmark.
Russia banned fresh vegetables from all 27 EU nations on 2 June, citing health concerns over an E.coli outbreak that has killed at least 49 people. The EU said the breadth of the ban was unjustified (see 'Background').
At a Russia-EU summit on 10 June, Russia agreed to lift the ban if it received safety certificates. The process has been slow and some countries including Poland protested after being unable to resume deliveries.
Moscow appears to be taking advantage of a compromise agreement reached between European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to allow imports of European vegetables to Russia, accompanied by documents certifying their safety.
At the time it was negotiated, the bacteria outbreak was still unidentified. The compromise could have allowed EU vegetable exports to Russia to continue under a certification regime. But in the absence of any threat after the origin of the contamination was identified, the agreement now appears instead to hamper EU vegetable exports to Russia.
Moreover, the agreement gives Moscow the opportunity to treat the EU's single market on a nation-by-nation basis, reducing trade to an instrument of power politics.
In a recent statement, EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht linked Russia's handling of the E.coli controversy with the country's bid to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
"What the Russians are doing is completely unacceptable," he was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Recently, US President Barack Obama acknowledged Russia's ambition to join the WTO by the end of the year, before presidential elections scheduled in March 2012. But he also linked it to a vote in Congress to approve "normal trade relations with Russia".
'Normalisation' of US trade with Russia implies the lifting of a Cold War-era provision known as the Jackson-Vanik amendment. This amendment was a response to Soviet-era 'diploma taxes' levied on Jews attempting to emigrate.
