MOSCOW, July 10. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) has asked Kazakhstan to suspend food sunflower exports to Russia until January 1, 2027, due to illegal seed shipments, the watchdog reported.
"Rosselkhoznadzor has requested the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan to suspend shipments of food sunflower to Russia until January 1, 2027, due to illegal seed deliveries," the statement said.
The regulator noted that the decision was aimed at preventing the illicit import of planting seeds disguised as food-grade sunflower until the Kazakh side takes steps to curb such violations. The watchdog added that its southern interregional office, jointly with the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Krasnodar Region, had previously uncovered a warehouse used for the illicit distribution of Kazakh sunflower seeds under the guise of food products. Since the beginning of this year, 40 trucks carrying such goods have arrived.
"The food sunflower arrived accompanied by Kazakh phytosanitary certificates for food purposes. While the outer packaging bore food-grade labels, inside there were tags indicating parent lines of sunflower seeds from France and Chile," the regulator added.