VZCZCXYZ0003
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMO #0265/01 0341305
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 031305Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC PRIORITY 5436
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1757
INFO RUEHVI/AMEMBASSY VIENNA 4706
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 5264

UNCLAS MOSCOW 000265 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
USDA FAS FOR OCRA/KUYPERS; OSTA/HAMILTON, BEAN; 
ONA/TING, SALLYARDS, MURPHY 
PASS APHIS MITCHELL, BURLESON, TANIEWSKI 
STATE FOR EUR/RUS 
STATE PASS USTR FOR CHATTIN 
BRUSSELS PASS APHIS/FERNANDEZ 
VIENNA PASS APHIS/TANAKA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR ETRD ECON WTO RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIAN VET SERVICE STOPS SHIPMENTS OF 
U.S. PET FOOD AND ANIMAL FEED 
 
REF: A) SMITH/KUYPERS EMAIL 12/29/08 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The Russian Federal Veterinary 
and Phytosanitary Surveillance Service (VPSS) has 
halted trade of U.S. pet food, animal feed and 
animal feed additives as of January 1, 2009. 
VPSS officials have advised that trade can resume 
only after USDA's Animal and Plant Health 
Inspection Service (APHIS) provides lists of U.S. 
manufacturers that currently export to Russia. 
In late December of 2008, USDA received a letter 
from VPSS with a reminder of an impending ban if 
the lists were not provided.  The original 
scanned copy of the letter and courtesy 
translation were sent to FAS/OCRA on December 29, 
2008 (REF A).  An informal embassy translation of 
the letter follows. END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) BEGIN TEXT: 
Moscow, December 26, 2008 
No. FS-NV-2/13281 
 
Dr. Robert Tanaka, 
Area Director for Eastern Europe 
USDA Animal and Plant Inspection Service 
 
The Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary 
Surveillance Service (VPSS) extends its regards 
to the USDA Animal and Plant Inspection Service 
(APHIS) and informs you of the following: 
 
In our letters FS-AS-2/11553 dated November 14, 
2008, and FS-NV-2/12384 dated December 5, 2008, 
VPSS informed about the necessity of receiving 
lists of the U.S. manufacturers of animal feed 
and feed additives that are exporting products to 
the Russian Federation and that currently have 
contracts with Russian partners for shipping such 
products.  In addition, we requested guarantees 
that these facilities are under permanent control 
of the U.S. veterinary service and that they will 
fulfill in the full scale all Russian veterinary- 
sanitary requirements and norms. 
 
To date the U.S. side has not provided us with 
the above-mentioned lists of U.S. establishments. 
This lack of action on your behalf will lead to a 
serious barrier to trade of animal feed and feed 
additives between our countries.  VPSS will not 
be able to issue import permits for shipments of 
feed as of 2009 from the United States to the 
Russian Federation until the mentioned materials 
have been provided. 
 
Please accept, Mr. Tanaka, assurances of my deep 
respect for you. 
 
Deputy Head 
N.A. Vlasov 
END TEXT. 
 
¶3. (SBU) In early January 2009, VPSS advised Post 
that the request for a list of U.S. animal feed 
facilities exporting to Russia included pet food 
even though it was not specifically mentioned in 
any of the three letters sent to APHIS since 
November 2008.  Post received assurances from 
VPSS officials that initial lists of U.S. pet 
food and animal feed manufacturers do not need to 
be complete and can be modified at any time by 
APHIS.  Until these lists are provided, VPSS will 
not issue import permits keeping our industries 
from Russia's growing market for these 
commodities.  In 2008, U.S. exports of pet food 
and animal feed (including feed additives) 
reached an estimated $30 million. 
 
¶4. (SBU) COMMENT: Post strongly recommends that 
 
APHIS and FAS coordinate a response (with input 
from industry representatives) that includes 
lists of U.S. pet food and animal feed facilities 
to VPSS as soon as possible.  As usual, VPSS 
stated in the letter that the U.S. facilities 
must fully meet all Russian import requirements 
although many of them do not comply with 
international standards.  APHIS may want to 
consider responding by stating that product from 
the U.S. pet food and animal feed facilities 
meets the requirements per our bilaterally- 
negotiated veterinary certificates.  VPSS has 
made it clear that request for lists of U.S. 
facilities that export additional agricultural 
products to Russia will grow.  As a result, it 
would behoove APHIS to develop a strategy as soon 
as possible to deal with this and all future 
requests for lists since it appears to be the 
wave of the future. END COMMENT. 
 
BEYRLE