He noted that Russia does not meet its demand for beef, and will be unable to for several more years to come. “We need to take account of our own resources for pork and poultry and restrict imports through a tariff quota,” Zubkov stated.

Russian Minister of Agriculture Alexey Gordeev told journalists that limiting the number of customs clearance points for imported meat will not lead to higher prices on the Russian market. “There will be no shortage,” he added.

He said that Russia needed to follow the example of the European Union and create a limited number of specialized clearance points for meat. He agreed with Zubkov that there was an excess of poultry in Russia.