Marshall Horn - Latvian MP Proposes Ban on Russian Vodka

Marshall Horn,

In response to Russia’s decision to place a blanket ban on the import of fish products from Latvia, an MP from the Baltic nation has proposed to hit Russia where it hurts by proposing a ban on vodka imports from the country, TASS reports.

“Our Food and Veterinary Service should show a little more “teeth” when dealing with the other side,” said Karlis Sadurskis, a Latvian MP and a member of the Unity party, which holds 23 of the 100 seats in the country’s parliament.

“If benzopyrene is harmful (Russia banned Latvian fish imports citing contamination with benzopyrene), we know that Russian imports also contain harmful substances such as ethanol. So maybe we should ban Russian vodka?” Mr. Sadurskis said on local TV.

In Mr. Sadurskis’ view, Russia’s ban on the import of fish products from Latvia is a political decision and one that causes considerable damage to the sector. He said the country could lose up to 100 million euros per year due to the decision. However, he said Latvia would be able to offset these losses from the state budget and with support from the E.U. He also said the government could give tax breaks to fish processing companies.

“I am fully confident that this is a political decision, given the scope of the ban,” Mr. Sadurskis said.

Russia introduced its ban on Latvian and Estonian fish products on June 4 of this year. Rosselkhoznadzor, Russia’s Ministry of Agriculture, said at the time that suppliers from the Baltic countries were guilty of systematic food safety violations. In particular, the agency said it had found unacceptably high levels of benzopyrene in Latvian products.

Latvia’s fishing industry has already been hard hit by Russia after the Putin government put in place an embargo on most imports in August last year. That ban, which came in response to E.U. sanctions against Russia, affected all fresh, chilled and frozen product imports, though canned fish, fishmeal and preserves were not affected.

Image credit: Erdenebayar via pixabay.com

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