“Effective from October 7, Russia has banned the imports of Lithuanian dairy products. The Consumer Protection and Sanitary Inspectorate (Rospotrebnadzor) chief, Gennady Onishchenko, announced the ban…Moscow has not provided any evidence to substantiate its ostensible concerns about food safety…Russia resorts to trade warfare-type measures against neighboring countries (members as well as non-members of the European Union) periodically and selectively…
It is now targeting the European Union’s incumbent presiding country, Lithuania. It no longer bothers to answer Lithuanian and EU inquiries about the basis for complaints. On other fronts, Russia is currently imposing (and threatening to impose more) arbitrary restrictions on trade with the EU’s Eastern Partnership countries—Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia…These countries are set to conclude association, free-trade, and travel visa liberalization agreements with the EU at the Eastern Partnership’s summit on November 28–29 in Lithuania. The Kremlin seeks to derail that process… ”

 Full Article – Vladimir Socor – The Lithuania Tribune.