Russia has temporarily restricted the import of animal products from Bulgaria because of the cases of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) found in the country.

On Friday, the Federal Agency of the Russian Federation of Veterinary and Fytosanitory Supervision (Rosselhoznadzor) announced the temporary restriction of import and transit of animals which could get infected with FMD.

The restriction is also valid for beef, pork and sheep meat, milk, meat and milk products from Bulgaria, the Russian we journal meatinfo.ru reported.

In April 2010, Russia lifted the 10-year ban on import of meat and animal products from Bulgaria, which was introduced because of registered bluetongue disease in animals in 1999.

Turkey might also impose a ban on import of meat and animal products from Bulgaria because of the FMD disease. This was requested Thursday by the Turkish MP Mehdi Eker.

The Director of the Bulgarian National Veterinary Service, Yordan Voynov, said that Turkey has the right to decide on whether to impose the ban or not. However, he added that there was no doubt that the disease in Bulgarian animals is of Asian origin.

It was announced at the beginning of January about the first case of FMD in Bulgaria in the past 12 years. It was found in a wild boar that had been killed in the region of the southeastern city of Burgas.