The inhabitants on the left bank of the Dniester won’t be hit by Kyiv’s decision to ban the transit of food without Chişinău’s ok, said Reintegration vice premier Gheorghe Bălan at a meeting with OSCE special envoy Wolf Dietrich Heim.

Gheorghe Bălan says Ukraine’s decision is not political but reasoned by the need to observe food safety. According to him, the condition to get certificates from Moldova’s food safety watchdog (ANSA) is already observed by many companies from the breakaway Transnistrian area.

On May 20, Kyiv banned Tiraspol to pass food through its border with Ukraine without ANSA’s permission.

Earlier ANSA had specified thus Ukraine applies the same rules for the Transnistrian companies, not just for the firms on the right bank of the Dniester.

Tiraspol dubbed the situation as economic blockade.