Russia demanded the proof of no content in US pork and meat of a special feed additive – ractopamine, which is broadly used in the United States and Canada. The US immediately linked the ban on the imports of the ractopamine-containing meat with the US approval of the Magnitsky law, which imposes sanctions against a broad range of Russian state officials. Russia denied that US pork and meat do not contain ractopamine.
The Russian veterinary service has some claims to the meat from the US again, the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily reported. This time Russia has the claims to US pork and meat. Since December 7, the Russian agricultural watchdog introduced a new rule that all meat products supplied in the country should have the certificates and they are produced without ractopamine. Ractopamine is a feed additive that promotes leanness for the cattle raised for their meat. This feed additive is particularly used in the US, Canada, Brazil and Mexico, which received the notifications to this effect.
US analysts link the claims to meat with the US Congress’s decision on the Magnitsky list, which imposes visa sanctions against Russian state officials. The decision was taken on December 6, the sanctions on US pork and meat were introduced on the next day, the newspaper noted.
Meanwhile, the Russian agricultural watchdog referred to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Ractopamine “is banned in cattle breeding by many WTO states,” the Russian agricultural watchdog said in a statement.
The Russian veterinary authorities acknowledged that the ban is actually in effect, but refuted any political underpinning of this ban,” the Novye Izvestia daily noted. The use of ractopamine is banned in most countries, including 27 EU states and China, where all imported products should pass a check for no content of this feed additive, Russian chief sanitary doctor Gennady Onishchenko said.
The US company Allendale Inc. noted last Saturday that the introduction of new rules of US meat imports in Russia can be a retaliatory step to the fact that the US Congress approved the Magnitsky Law.
Russia shows its discontent with the introduction of the restrictions on the US meat imports, the newspaper cited head of the Institute of Globalization Problems Mikhail Delyagin. The supplies of weapons in Syria can become next steps in “the asymmetrical war”, the expert noted.
“Meanwhile, this is compact weapons. The second thing is the creation of an alternative system of bank transactions in the BRICS states. In this case we can break through Iran’s isolation. But the political willpower is needed for this,” he said in the comments of the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily.
In general, there are many opportunities to encroach on the interests of the Americans, the newspaper believes. For instance, the US companies may be banned to participate in the development of the projects on the Russian northern continental shelf and etc. But this is a matter of decisiveness for the Russian state authorities.