VIENNA, May 23 (RIA Novosti) - Russia proposed in early May sending its experts to Poland to allow Polish companies to export livestock meant for slaughter, but Poland has not replied yet, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.
Last November, Warsaw vetoed talks on a new Russia-EU cooperation agreement to replace the one that expires in late 2007 over Russia's ban on meat and other agricultural imports from Poland. Moscow cited health concerns, but Warsaw said the move was political.
"On May 2, we forwarded a proposal to Poland to accept our sanitary doctors in order to clear companies one by one for the export of livestock meant for slaughter to Russia. No response followed. We are waiting for a response," Putin said at a press conference in Vienna, Austria, where he arrived Wednesday for a two-day official visit.
"Our European partners do not intend yet to discuss this serious problem. I think it is unfair and wrong," the president said, adding that a dialogue on the issue should be held with "all cards on the table."
Putin added that the core of the issue lies not only with Polish meat producers, but probably with Polish authorities, which do not have enough control over those who would bring products to Russia from countries in Latin America and Asia via the Polish market.
"That's too much and it kills our agriculture," Putin said, adding that a direct dialogue with Poland should be established to resolve the issue.
The participants of a recent Russia-EU summit near the Russian Volga city of Samara also discussed the Polish meat ban issue.
At the May 17-18 summit, Putin said the row between Russia and Poland over Moscow's ban on meat products from its former Eastern Bloc ally was a common economic issue rather than a political matter.
"We all know that there are many disputes within the EU, and between the EU, and other countries concerning agricultural issues," Putin said, adding that a common approach to resolving those issues should be developed and used by all concerned parties.
But the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, said Russia's embargo on Polish meat imports was unjustified.
"If there were grounds [for an embargo], we would not allow Poland to circulate meat in the European Union," he said after the Friday summit.
The European Union's executive body said Monday it hoped to soon start talks with Russia on lifting the embargo.
