MOSCOW, September 22. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian veterinary standards officials have detected two large batches of fish from Spain and Norway being re-exported via Ukraine to the Crimean republic, side-stepping Moscow's embargo on imports from the West.

The first batch of more than 20 tonnes of quick-frozen Notothenia fish produced in Spain was marked as fish from Argentina and was due for delivery by a Ukrainian producer to the Russian republic of Crimea, Rosselkhoznadzor agency inspectors said in a report.

A second batch of nearly 19 tonnes of quick-frozen fish supplied by another Ukrainian enterprise was found to contain 8.5 tonnes of Norwegian salmon and more than 10 tonnes of Notothenia fish from the British-ruled Falkland Islands.

Both producers had not been accredited by the Russian regulator and their products are sanctioned in the country, the report said. The deliveries were sent back to Ukrainian territory, it added.

The ban announced on August 7 bars imports of meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables from the United States, the 28-nation European Union, Canada, Australia and Norway for 12 months in retaliation for sanctions imposed by those nations on Russia over events in Ukraine.