Salmon sold to Russia as Icelandic

Some 300 tons of farmed salmon have since October been exported to Russia from within the European Economic Area (EEA) under the pretext it was manufactured in Iceland. The EEA includes the member states of the European Union plus Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.

The export documents used were falsified and made to look like they were confirmed by the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority (MAST). Furthermore according to the documents the salmon was produced by Icelandic seafood companies which are not in the salmon farming business and consequently have never exported salmon to Russia.

Earlier this year Russia issued trade sanctions against a number of countries around the world as a response to sanctions issues against Russian interests because of the situation in Ukraine. This included the member states of the EU and Norway. However, Iceland has not been put on the Russian sanctions list.

MAST says on its website that the matter is being investigated in cooperation with Russian authorities. The salmon was transported to Russia through Estonia but it is so far unclear from which country exactly it was originally exported. According to MAST nothing indicates that Icelandic companies are involved.