December 27, 2005

Russia's ban on Norway fish not political

The Russian minister for agriculture said on Thursday that a ban on imports of cooled fish from Norway starting from January 1, 2006 had nothing to do with politics.

Starting from January 1, 2006, Russia will impose a ban on imports of cooled fish from Norway and introduce special authorisations for Norwegian enterprises supplying such fish, the minister Alexei Gordeyev said, before stressing that this action has more to do with the health of Russian citizens than with politics.

According to the local agricultural watchdog, imported Norwegian fish contains a dangerous level of heavy metals.

An analysis of samples of fish imported from Norway showed that the content of lead exceeded the permissible limit by 18 times, and that of cadmium - by 3.7 times.