Russia's agricultural watchdog will temproparily ban fruits and vegetables from Albania due to re-export of banned products from the European Union.

MOSCOW, December 3 (Sputnik) — Russia will temporarily restrict imports of fruits and vegetables from Albania starting from December 8 as some of it is being re-exported from the European Union, a spokesperson for Russia's agricultural watchdog told RIA Novosti Wednesday.

"Rosselkhoznadzor [the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision] is imposing restrictions of agriculture deliveries from Albania to Russia on December 8," Julia Trofimova said.

She noted that the Albanian officials provided 21 phytosanitary certificates to Rosselkhoznadzor, all but one of which were found to be forged.

"We therefore concluded that Albania is a cover for the import of banned products from the European Union into Russia," the watchdog representative added.

Similar restrictions due to the illegal re-export of agricultural products from the European Union were imposed on Ukraine and Moldova in October. The following month, meat imports from Montenegro were banned for the same reason.

The European Union, alongside the United States, has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia, targeting its banking, energy and defense sectors. Russia introduced responsive measures in August, imposing a one-year ban on food products including meat, poultry, dairy as well as fruits and vegetables from these countries.