Moscow, Jul 25 (IANS/RIA Novosti): Russia is ready to completely lift a ban on import of vegetables from Europe if there are no further cases of E.coli infections, a top official said.
Russia introduced the vegetable embargo June 2 after the E.coli bacteria killed at least 40 people in Europe.
Chief sanitary doctor Gennady Onishchenko said: "It reassures us that the number of people, infected by E.coli, has fallen significantly. If it follows this way, we will consider the issue of the total lifting of the import ban, but with certain restrictions."
He said the countries whose vegetables are not allowed to be sold in Russia are Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovenia and Germany.
As of now, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, the Czech Republic, Poland and France have permission to export vegetables to Russia.