You're reading: Russia suspends fulfillment of agreements on ‘cheese issue’ with Ukraine

Russia's chief sanitary inspector and head of Rospotrebnadzor Gennady Onishchenko said he has decided to suspend the fulfillment of agreements on the "cheese issue" reached in his negotiations with Ukraine's Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Mykola Prisiazhniuk on Jan. 9.

The decision was made due to the statements on the "cheese issue" made by Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostiantyn Hryschenko on Friday.

"We recognize the agreements that have been reached as legally void until we receive exhaustive explanations from the Ukrainian executive authorities," Onishchenko said.

Azarov said Russia and Ukraine will reach agreements on the supply of Ukrainian cheese, calling these products "high-quality".

"There is no palm oil in it. However, unneeded barriers are being created. Sooner or later we will reach agreements and remove those barriers," Azarov said while delivering a lecture in the Latvian University in Riga on Friday.

Azarov said the conflict with Russia on the supply of Ukrainian cheese is "a common practice of relations between large trade partners, when companies lobby various restrictive measures in the government, trying to protect their market."

Foreign Minister Hryschenko said the absence of Ukrainian cheese on the Russian market will hurt Russian consumers.

"I was surprised by the statements made by the head of Rospotrebnadzor on Ukrainian cheese," Hryschenko said while delivering a lecture in the Kyiv Institute of Foreign Relations on Friday.

According to earlier reports, Rospotrebnadzor has begun seizing from circulation in Russia and has suspended the import into Russia of cheese made by the Ukrainian producers Prometey (Chernihiv region), Pyriatyn Cheese Factory (Poltava region), and OOO Gadiachsyr (Poltava region). Onishchenko said these products do not meet the Russian technical regulations on milk and dairy products.

On Jan. 9 Onischenko had negotiations with the Ukrainian agrarian policy minister, reaching an agreement that Rospotrebnadzor officials will travel to Ukraine to inspect local cheese manufacturers who supply their products to Russia.

Onishchenko said the meeting participants had developed measures to resolve the situation with the quality f Ukrainian cheese and their supply to the territory of Russia.

Earlier Onishchenko said the supply to Russia of Ukrainian cheese manufactured by three enterprises had been suspended. He said products not meeting the Russian legislative requirements are being removed from circulation.

Ukrainian cheese has been found in 43 regions of Russia, according to Onishchenko.

"We have taken 258 cheese samples. Cheese taken from ten territories was found to contain non-dairy oils," he said.