YEREVAN. – As of Wednesday, Russia has banned the imports of several agricultural products, including dairy products and meat, from Armenia, according to 168 Zham daily.

“The import ban was instated by the [Russian] agricultural supervision service Rosselkhoznadzor [(Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance of the Russian Federation)], due to the situation in connection with the foot-and-mouth type of disease in Armenia. According to the official explanation, the Russian authorities fear that this disease could penetrate into Russia with the agricultural products imported from Armenia.

“[But] actually, Rosselkhoznadzor is not an agricultural service, but a political bludgeon functioning under its name, [and] which the authorities of Russia apply against all those countries in relations with which occurrences are recorded that are not pleasing to them.

“Rosselkhoznadzor’s decision should worry not solely—and not so much—our [i.e. Armenia’s] relevant agencies of agriculture and food security, in terms of the presence of the foot-and-mouth disease, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the other institutions dealing in foreign policy,” 168 Zham wrote.