Poland could ban Russian agricultural imports – PM Tusk

Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, has said that his country could follow Latvia in introducing a ban on agricultural products from Russia, Reuters reported on Thursday.

While cheap food imports from Ukraine have been driving European farmers’ protests in recent weeks, the Polish premier noted that products from Russia and Belarus are also causing market distortions.

“Latvia decided to implement an embargo on the import of (agricultural) products from Russia,” Reuters quoted Tusk as saying. “We will analyse the case of Latvia, and I do not rule out that Poland will take an appropriate initiative.”

Tusk added that the EU needs to “seriously focus on better regulations when it comes to the import of cereals and food products from the east”.

Latvia’s parliament voted last Thursday to ban the importation of agricultural products and animal feed originating in Russia and Belarus until July 2025.

The country’s president, Edgars Rinkevics, had described the embargo as necessary for “both for political and economic reasons.”