Russia's ban on cattle imports from Europe will remain in force at least until the end of next year, deputy of agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor, Nikolai Vlasov, said on Friday at a press conference held at Interfax's head office in Moscow.
Rosselkhoznadzor will consider lifting the ban if a large-scale experiment currently being conducted in Voronezh region – scheduled to run for more than a year – shows that animals that have recovered from Schmallenberg virus infections prove to be no threat to uninfected animals.
“We will not receive a conclusive answer to that question. Consequently, we cannot consent to the importation to Russia of virus-positive animals [for at least another year],” Vlasov said.
Earlier, Rosselkhoznadzor jointly with France’s veterinary service launched the experiment at an agricultural enterprise in Voronezh region by delivering cattle that have had Schmallenberg disease. So far 300 head of cattle has been delivered and the first blood samples have been taken for laboratory analysis. More than 2,000 head of cattle in all will be delivered under the experiment.
“Together with the French we will monitor all of these animals for an extended period – more than a year – after which was will definitely be able to establish whether the animals that have had the disease remain a transmission threat,” Vlasov said.
“Naturally, there will be cattle imports from Europe. We are working in that direction. The one thing is, we don’t want to drag into the country several diseases that are present in Europe but not in Russia,” Vlasov said, adding that Bluetongue virus was also a concern alongside the main target of the experiment, Schmallenberg virus.
Vlasov also said that Schmallenberg virus is so widespread in Europe it makes no sense to ban cattle imports from individual countries.
