VZCZCXYZ0016
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMO #2656/01 2481823
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 041823Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC PRIORITY 5360
INFO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9839
RUEHVI/AMEMBASSY VIENNA 4645
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 5189

UNCLAS MOSCOW 002656 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
USDA FAS FOR OCRA/FLEMINGS, KUYPERS; 
- OSTA/HAMILTON, BEAN 
PASS FSIS/HARRIES, DUTROW 
PASS APHIS MITCHELL 
STATE FOR EUR/RUS, EB/ATP/SINGER 
STATE PASS USTR FOR PORTER 
BRUSSELS PASS APHIS/FERNANDEZ 
VIENNA PASS APHIS/TANAKA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR ETRD TBIO WTO RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIA READY TO AUDIT U.S. BEEF AND PORK 
FACILITIES 
 
REF: A) HANSEN/DUTROW EMAIL, B) MOSCOW 2620 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The Russian Federal Veterinary 
and Phytosanitary Surveillance Service (VPSS) 
informed via official letter that it is ready to 
participate in joint inspections of 31 U.S. pork 
facilities beginning September 29.  In addition, 
VPSS stated its readiness to send a team of 
inspectors to jointly inspect 30 U.S. beef 
facilities in October 2008.  VPSS requested a 
visit to several cattle and swine farms during 
the audits.  Original scanned copy and courtesy 
translation were sent to USDA's Food Safety and 
Inspection Service (FSIS) on September 4 (REF A). 
An informal embassy translation of the letter 
follows. END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) BEGIN TEXT: 
Moscow, September 3, 2008 
No. FS-NV-2/8889 
 
Assistant Administrator 
FSIS Office of International Affairs, USDA 
Dr. William James 
 
The Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary 
Surveillance Service (VPSS) thanks you for your 
efforts in preparing a visit of Russian 
specialists to the United States for joint 
inspections of a sample of pork and beef 
establishments, which complies with the Agreement 
of November 19, 2006, on inspection and 
certification of U.S. establishments.  In 
response to your letter dated August 8 and August 
11, 2008, I would like to inform you of the 
following: 
 
We agree with your proposal to start joint 
inspections of U.S. pork facilities on September 
29, 2008 and to organize three groups of 
inspectors. 
 
However, our proposals regarding the conditions 
of U.S. pork facilities audit in September and 
U.S. beef facilities in October 2008 described in 
our letter No. FS-GK-2/7899 of August 8, 2008 are 
still in force. 
 
In this connection, we ask FSIS to send us via 
the American Embassy in Moscow an official 
invitation for specialists listed in our previous 
correspondence (letter No. FS-GK-2/7899 of August 
8, 2008), and also please send us the itinerary 
for the joint inspections.  A list of Russian 
delegates with group allocations will be sent you 
shortly. 
 
In order to increase the effectiveness and 
likelihood of getting reliable results, each 
inspection group should include three Russian 
specialists who will audit no more then one 
establishment per day without any relation to 
which firm the establishment belongs to. 
Attached please find an amended list of the 
Russian delegation with group allocation. 
 
Please include in the joint audit program 2-3 
farms suppliers of animals for slaughter at the 
beginning of the inspections. 
 
For your convenience please find attached 
passport data of Russian specialists and list of 
U.S. beef and pork establishments subjected to 
the inspection. 
 
Dr. James, please accept my assurances of the 
deepest respect. 
 
 
Attachment: 7 pages (not included in this cable) 
 
Deputy Head 
N.A. Vlasov 
END TEXT. 
 
¶3. (SBU) On August 29, VPSS officially informed 
Post that it had delisted 19 U.S. poultry 
facilities, all of which were among the 39 
facilities audited by Russian inspectors in July 
and August (REF B).  VPSS stated that its 
inspectors found "large numbers of deficiencies" 
during the audit leading them to temporarily 
banned poultry exports from those facilities as 
of September 1.  VPSS also issued a cautionary 
statement on 29 other U.S. poultry plants saying 
that product originating from those plants tested 
positive for arsenic, E. coli, Salmonella, and 
antibiotics.  News first broke August 28 in a CNN 
interview with Russian PM Vladimir Putin during 
which he announced the outcome of the poultry 
audit and stated that the results had nothing to 
do with recent tensions between the United States 
and Russia over the Georgia conflict. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Over the past two weeks, senior Russian 
Government officials have emphasized the need to 
protect the domestic agricultural sector from 
imports.  Agriculture Minister Gordeyev announced 
August 27 that his ministry would focus on 
protecting Russia's poultry, pork and dairy 
sectors.  Those sectors  have been unprofitable 
because of  poor management, the use of old 
technology, and rising input prices.  Agriculture 
Minister Gordeyev stated that "the time has come 
to change the quota regime and reduce imports, 
which have unfortunately been on the rise 
recently" and hurt Russia's interests.  He said 
that Russia had "been cheated, to put it mildly," 
and noted that quotas for pork and poultry 
imports could be cut by "hundreds of thousands of 
tons." 
 
¶5. (SBU) On August 26, First Deputy PM Viktor 
Zubkov said the government planned to spend an 
additional 102 billion rubles ($4.1 billion) on 
domestic agriculture subidies over 5 years. 
Zubkov's announcement came after PM Putin and 
First Deputy PM Shuvalov stated August 25 that 
Russia should suspend or renegotiate some of the 
commitments made during WTO accession talks in an 
effort to support domestic farmers. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Given the recent statements from senior 
GOR officials calling for restrictions on 
agriculture imports, Post recommends that FSIS 
coordinate with FAS and APHIS to include a visit 
to cattle and swine farms, as requested in the 
VPSS letter.  VPSS stated that its inability to 
visit U.S. poultry farms was one of the primary 
reasons for suspending imports from 19 plants, 
even though the U.S.-Russia poultry agreement 
does not contain a provision for on-farm visits 
during routine yearly audits by VPSS inspectors. 
Given the current protectionist rhetoric from 
senior GOR officials, it is certainly possible 
that the desire to protect domestic agriculture 
interests will be more important to VPSS 
inspectors than what they actually see on the 
ground.  Nonetheless, post believes that the 
chances for more favorable audit results will go 
up if an effort is made to satisfy VPSS's request 
to visit a few cattle and swine farms prior to 
the audit. 
 
BEYRLE