“Russia earns 7 billion euros a year from the sale of fish, of which 1.5 billion goes through the Netherlands, so the West should strengthen sanctions against the fishing industry of the Russian Federation in order to deal a blow to the Russian economy.”, — write: www.ukrinform.ua
Russia earns 7 billion euros a year from the sale of fish, of which 1.5 billion – through the Netherlands, so the West should strengthen sanctions against the fishing industry of the Russian Federation in order to deal a blow to the Russian economy.
“Worldwide, Russia earns 7 billion from fish. 1.5 of this 7 billion is earned through the Netherlands. Therefore, more sanctions against Russia are needed, including a ban on the import of Russian fish. This will deal a huge blow to the Russian economy,” he said.
Dirven, who is also an adviser to the EBRD, stressed that the sanctions are working, but some important sectors of Russian industry have not yet felt the impact of Western sanctions.
“Sanctions work. Russian ships have already been denied access to the ports of Velsen, near Amsterdam, due to espionage by Russian fishing vessels. Therefore, the Russian company Norebo is now using a Norwegian company with Norwegian-flagged vessels to deceive the Dutch authorities. Fishing vessels that transport fish from Murmansk to Velzen for Norebo use Norwegian vessels, but with Russian crews. They use the port in Welsen, which has an excellent infrastructure and the necessary conditions for fish processing – storage, distribution, cooling and freezing. The Norebo company (Russia) has a subsidiary in the Netherlands, registered in Amsterdam. So they also use the Dutch financial sector,” said Dirven.
According to him, “since Russia earns billions, white fish should also be on the sanctions list.”
Also, he noted, Dutch and Norwegian journalists discovered that Russian fishing vessels catch fish, ignoring European fishing quotas, and also catch fish that are too small. “Since this fish is delivered to the Dutch port of Welsen, where EU regulations apply, the Dutch authorities can apply European law, but this is not actually happening. In addition, it turned out that the documentation for caught fish was done improperly in most cases. Therefore, the Dutch authorities must apply EU legislation,” Dirven emphasized.
He also noted that the import of Russian fish to the Netherlands is poorly controlled.
“The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) says they can’t do anything because white fish is not on the sanctions list. Also, the administration is understaffed to carry out powerful inspections. At the same time, NVWA has the right to inspect all fishing vessels entering Dutch ports,” he said.
The honorary consul of Ukraine in the Netherlands also said that the Dutch parliamentarians have already started to raise the “fish issue” and seek to take measures against the Russian fish trade through the Netherlands.
“It is necessary to carry out 100% inspection of Russian fish imports, add Russian white fish to the EU sanctions list, add Norebo to the EU and US sanctions lists, deny Russian sailors access to Dutch ports due to the risks of espionage and sabotage,” the honorary consul emphasized.
Read also: The European Union is preparing a new one package sanctions against Russia until the third anniversary of the full-scale war in Ukraine – mass media As Ukrinform reported, on December 16, the EU adopted the fifteenth package of sanctions against Russia in response to armed aggression against Ukraine.