Russia may do without poultry meat import next year, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said yesterday (19 October), discussing the draft budget for 2011 and for the 2012-2013 period with LDPR leader, Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

ITAR-TASS reports Mr Putin saying: "I believe we will actually have no need for import next year and in the subsequent years, the more so that our veterinary inspectors are ever more often concerned, about how these products are transported and preserved."

The prime minister pointed out that quite recently Russia bought 1.5 million tons of poultry meat from the United States.

"The purchases this year will be around 300,000 tons," he said.

The premier noted it was the failure to meet sanitary norms that was the reason more than once to suspend imports. According to Mr Putin's information, Russia managed in the previous years to achieve sizable increase of poultry meat output, by 30 per cent, and that of pork, by 39 per cent.