Russia restricts imports of agricultural products from Moldova

Russia is moving to limit imports of agricultural products from Moldova, in a move seen as an attempt by Moscow to exert pressure on Chisinau.

In particular, as the Russian agricultural products safety authority announced on Tuesday, Russia is banning the import of agricultural products from 31 of the total 34 regions of Moldova, starting on August 15, as reported by Reuters.

This is not a surprising move, however, given that Moscow has used similar bans on food imports many times in the past in its trade disputes with third countries.

The Kremlin’s decision is reportedly related to the fact that Moldova buys natural gas from Russia and earlier this month asked Russian energy giant Gazprom if it could delay the August payment.

Russia’s agricultural product safety authority, however, says in its statement that it had to impose restrictions “due to repeated detection of dangerous items requiring quarantine in products imported from Moldova to Russia.”

Meanwhile, Moldova has cut fruit supplies to Russia since Moscow invaded Ukraine on February 24 due to supply chain problems and higher transport costs. Nevertheless, supplies to Russia are still an important source of income for Moldovan farmers.

So far this year, Moldova has supplied the Russian market with 168,000 tonnes of agricultural products, mainly apples, plums and grapes, according to the Interfax news agency.