On September 5th, Russian Federal Service for Protection of Consumer Rights, Rospotrebnadzor, suspended imports of all confectionery products from Ukraine, the press service of the agency said.
"In order to ensure the rights of consumers, Rospotrebnadzor, from September 5, 2014, suspends imports of confectionery products from Ukraine to the Russian Federation," the message from the service said.
As for the cause of the ban, officials with the agency said that Ukrainian confectionery companies violate labeling rules of their products.
Confectionery companies AVK, Conti and Roshen are the main importers of confectionery products from Ukraine to Russia. Rospotrebnadzor banned the imports of confectionery products made by Roshen, the company owned by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, at the end of July 2013 in connection with quality and safety claims.
According to ITAR-TASS, on 28 July 2014, Russia banned imports of all dairy products and milk from Ukraine. The ban primarily affected the imports of Ukrainian cheeses.
Specialists of the Russian federal agency for agricultural control, Rosselhoznadzor, have repeatedly found residual amounts of tetracycline antibiotics, salts of heavy metals and pathogens in milk and milk products imported from Ukraine.
The agency also banned the imports of potatoes from all Ukrainian farms because of the pest, the golden nematode. Imports of Ukrainian pork were suspended as well against the backdrop of African swine fever threat.
Russia has thus banned imports of cheeses from 13 Ukrainian plants; juices, including for baby food; spirits, beer, and beer drinks from three Ukrainian enterprises; canned vegetable, fruit and fish products from seven Ukrainian companies.
Noteworthy, the Crimean authorities sent an appeal to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, requesting permission for imports of Ukrainian agricultural products to the peninsula, because the Crimea, for the time being, is unable to fully provide itself with milk, dairy products, sugar, sunflower oil and potatoes. Supplies from Russia are insufficient, officials with the Crimean administration said.