Brussels, 06/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 3 November, Russia asked for proof that meat produced in Romania and Bulgaria is harmless, as both of these countries are to join the EU on 1 January 2007. If none is provided, then Moscow will suspend meat imports from all the Member States of the EU, from that date onwards, warned Sergei Dankvert, the head of the Federal service for Russian veterinary and phyto-sanitary control, as quoted in a dispatch from the news agency Reuters. "The EU has not been able to provide us with written guarantees (about the sanitary safety of Bulgarian and Romanian meat) and we have announced to them our intention of suspending import licences as of 1 January 2007", said Mr Dankvert, who went on to explain that the restrictions will apply to live animals, products of animal origin, animal feed and third-country products which have transited via the territory of the EU. Russia has already banned imports of most animal origin products from these two countries, due to outbreaks of ovine catarrhal fever in Bulgaria and of classical swine fever in Romania. (lc)