Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili condemned Russia on Monday for banning the import of wine from his country.

The president asserted that the wine embargo was an economic blockade against Georgia, which relies on Russia, as its main market for Georgian wine.

"We are up against an effective economic embargo declared against Georgia," said Saakashvili, adding that "the ban on Georgian wine in the Russian market is not dictated by economic reasons."

Russia passed a ban on wine from Georgia and Moldova a week ago allegedly for the sake of protecting consumers from poor quality wines.

Georgia has denied Russian claims that Georgian wine contains pesticides.

Source: Xinhua