Russia mulls joining China in banning Japanese seafood imports

MOSCOW - Russia may join China in banning Japanese seafood imports after Japan released treated water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea, and Moscow is seeking talks with Tokyo, a Russian regulator said on Tuesday.

Japan started releasing the water from the plant into the ocean in August,

drawing strong criticism from China. In retaliation, China imposed

a blanket ban on all aquatic imports from Japan.

Russian food safety watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor on Tuesday said it had discussed Japanese food exports with its Chinese counterparts.

Russia is one of the biggest marine product suppliers to China and

is seeking to increase its market share.

“Taking into account the possible risks of radiation contamination of products, Rosselkhoznadzor is considering the possibility of joining Chinese restrictions on supplies of fish products from Japan,” the regulator said in a statement.

“The final decision will be made after negotiations with the Japanese side.”

So far in 2023, Russia has imported 118 tonnes of Japanese seafood.

Rosselkhoznadzor said it had sent a letter to Japan on the need to hold talks and requesting information on its radiological testing of exported fish products by Oct 16, including tritium.

Japan will scrutinise Tuesday’s announcement by Russia, the country’s top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said on Wednesday.

The East Asian nation says the water is safe

after being treated to remove most radioactive elements except tritium, a radionuclide that is difficult to separate from water. It is then diluted to internationally accepted levels before being released.

Japan has said that criticism from Russia and China was unsupported by scientific evidence.

“We strongly ask Russia to act based on scientific evidence,” Mr Matsuno told a press conference on Wednesday, adding that Russia was a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Fukushima expert team, which in July greenlighted the water release plan.

On Monday, in its latest report on water testing, Japan’s Ministry of the Environment said analysis results of seawater, sampled on Sept 19, showed the tritium concentrations were below the lower limit of detection at all 11 sampling points and would have no adverse impact on human health and the environment.

Moscow has also detected no irregularities in marine samples used for tests in Russian regions that are relatively close to where the treated water was released, Rosselkhoznadzor’s far eastern branch said on Tuesday, Interfax news agency reported.

Russia exported 2.3 million tonnes of marine products in 2022 worth US$6.1 billion (S$8.36 billion) – around half its overall catch – with China, South Korea and Japan being the biggest importers, according to its Federal Agency for Fishery. REUTERS