Russia bans imports of Azerbaijani tomatoes and apples from the world

Russia has banned imports of Azerbaijani tomatoes and apples from Thursday, which will hit one of Azerbaijan’s export sectors.

The Roselhoznadzor of the Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Service of the Russian Federation announced on Tuesday an embargo from 10 December due to the detection of harmful substances in several recent shipments.

According to the service, the ban is necessary to prevent the import and spread of pesticides in Russia.

Azerbaijan is the largest supplier of Russian tomatoes, accounting for more than 30% of imports.

Although most of Azerbaijan’s exports are petroleum products, tomatoes account for almost one percent of foreign sales and Russia is its main tomato market.

The ban came into effect on the day of a parade of forces in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, in honor of the victory in the Nagorno-Karabakh war. The parade was also watched by Turkish President Regepi Tajip Erdogan.

Russia banned the import of Turkish tomatoes in 2015, when a Turkish fighter shot down a Russian warplane at the Syrian border.

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