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Import of strong alcohol from Czech Republic outlawed

Gennady Onishchenko said the agency was considering the possibility of outlawing the import of strong alcohol distilled in Poland and Slovakia

MOSCOW, September 21 (Itar-Tass) — Russia’s consumer rights watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, has instructed the Customs to stop the import of strong alcohol from the Czech Republic as of today, the watchdog’s chief, Gennady Onishchenko told Itar-Tass.

“We have circulated the instruction among the customs offices,” he said. “The ban is applicable to strong alcohol from that country.”

He said the agency was considering the possibility of outlawing the import of strong alcohol distilled in Poland and Slovakia.

“We bear in mind that we have received no information from the European Union. The number of victims in the Czech Republic is the largest,” Onishchenko recalled, adding that the Czech Republic had suspended alcohol export to the EU countries.

“The peculiar features of our business as they are, one may speculate with a high degree of probability that this alcohol will be here,” Onishchenko said. That was one of the arguments for banning the import of Czech alcoholic beverages.

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