Some US meat now welcome in Russia

According to the wonderfully-titled Meat International, the Russian government has decided to lift its ban on pork from the US states of Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Russian Veterinary and Phytosanitary Monitoring Service (Rosselkhoznadzor) originally imposed the ban to prevent the spread of the A H1N1 swine flu virus, despite the fact that the World Health Organization denied that it was possible to contract the virus from meat. Many saw the ban as a political move to placate Russian producers - Russia also increased tariffs on other types of meat at the beginning of the year. This is important news for the Russia/US trade relationship, as meat represents a substantial portion of trade between the two countries.