EU says Russia will lift veg ban

European vegetables are expected to be back on sale in Russia this week

Russia has said it will resume importing vegetables from the European Union (EU) three weeks after it banned them over the E.coli outbreak.

The European Commission says the EU is expected to start exports this week.

Russian authorities signed the agreement on Wednesday during a visit by European Union health commissioner John Dalli.

The visit was intended to ensure Moscow would stick to its pledge to lift the ban.

EU produce could be reappearing in Russia as early as Thursday.

The commission’s health spokesman, Frederic Vincent, said: “We are heading towards an immediate resumption of European vegetables, based on EU certificates that will explain to the Russian authorities that in each EU state there are labs and a surveillance and verification system.”

The E.coli outbreak has so far affected more than 3,000 people, causing the death of 35 and leaving about 800 with a complication that can be fatal.

The source of infection, which initially focused on cucumbers from Spain, has been identified as bean sprouts from an organic farm in northern Germany.

The European Commission has offered 210m euros (£186m; $303m) to European farmers who have seen a dramatic loss of income since the outbreak started in early May.

The EU estimates the value of fresh vegetable exports to Russia at 600m euros a year, a quarter of the total exported.

Spain, France, Germany and Poland are the biggest exporting producers.

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