Abkhazia announced a ban on importing tangerines to Russia

“The Russian side banned the import of mandarins from Abkhazia, citing the decision of the health services,” Bganba clarified. At the same time, he stressed that the Abkhazian health services deny “the presence of any harmful flies in citrus trees.”

The interim prime minister added that this fly is often “found on the Russian side in the run-up to early elections in Abkhazia,” warning that the restriction would affect the republic’s poorest residents, “who live off their crops.”

Trucks with tangerines have accumulated on the border between Russia and Abkhazia, an employee of the State Customs Committee of Abkhazia told TASS. “In the morning several cars have already been returned, trucks loaded with tangerines are beginning to accumulate on the Abkhazian side,” said the agency’s interlocutor.

According to TASS, the republic planned to supply Russia with more than 37 thousand tons of tangerines. We are now at the peak of the citrus season in Abkhazia.

Rosselkhoznadzor denied information about the limitation of the supply of tangerines. “Russia has not banned the import of products from Abkhazia,” he told RIA Novosti at the department.

Previously, in November, Abkhaz President Aslan Bzhania resigned after several days of protests. People took to the streets and seized government buildings because of an investment deal with Russia, which involved building apartments in the republic.