Russia promises Belarus may face new problems with food supplies
- 23.06.2009, 10:18
The Russia’s chief health officer sums up the results of the “milk war” with Belarus and promised introduction of new technical regulations.
Gennady Onishchenko said Russia planned to introduce new technical regulations on other food products besides milk. The chief health officer noted that the so called milk war with Russia was for Belarus’s good.
“It was for the good of Belarus. The Russian legislation undergoes reforms, new technical regulations on juices, meat, poultry, and other food products are to appear soon. You are welcome to sell your products here if you want to, but keep the law, please,” Gennady Onishchenko told at an online conference on Kommersant daily’s website.
The Russia’s chief heath officer emphasized that Belarus had had enough time to prevent the milk conflict. “When a decision on imports ban was adopted, I suggested Belarus to start negotiations, but they began to comment. They demonstrated their talent of accusing Onishchenko: ‘Why he is observing the law?’” the head of the Russian Agency for Health and Consumer Rights said.
“We’ve come to a compromise. We made a step forward and allowed about 150 types of products to our market a week ago; permit for another list has just taken effect. It would have taken far less time, bur Belarusian producers are negligent with making up documents, they have to re-write them several times. I am still dissatisfied, the matter is not solved,” Gennady Onishchenko noted.
The Russian official harshly criticized behaviour of the Belarusian official mass media during the “milk war”.
“I’ve already mentioned the specific character of the Belarusian mass media, especially official, state-run media outlets of the President’s Administration. It might be a new genre in journalism – a psycho-hysterical one. This keeps with the best traditions of Goebbels’s propaganda: he more ridiculous is the lie, the more people believe it,” the chief health officer said.
“I know the stage director of this frightful show. If the Belarusians moved away from Russia due to this deceitful camping, this is his merit,” the Russia’s chief health officer said.
Gennady Onishchenko denied information saying the milk conflict between Russia and Belarus had been initiated because Minsk hadn’t fulfilled its promises to allow Moscow to privatize Belarusian dairy factories.
“We have no such information on our website (of the Russian Agency for Heath and Consumer Rights), I didn’t say so. Belarusian dairy products are in our line. Demand to comply with the regulations have nothing in common with privatization of dairy factories. I learnt this later from a speech of one of the country’s leaders,” the Russian official said.