THE erstwhile -cold war between, the
us and Russia seems to have given
way to a war over chickens! If a threatened Russian poultry ban takes effect,
yankee chickens may no longer be
welcome in Russia. Apparently,
Russians are holding out the ban
threat -as a measure to protect Russian
consumers against infected us poultry
exports.
The Americans are, however, reading it differently. They say that the Russian stand is nothing but old-
fashioned protectio*nism. But "we take
this issue very seriously", commented
David P Johnson, a White House
spokesperson. In fact, the, us depart-
ment of agriculture (USDA) is all set to
review Russian trade ties on poultry.
Last year, us poultry producers exported
more than $500 million in frozen poultry to Russia. The exports have caused
an alarm among Russian producers who
feel that the us is out to destroy the local
industry. Meanwhile, officials from the
USDA plan to retaliate if the Russian ban
comes through by restricting Russian
exports to US.
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