Russia asks Customs Union members not to import Georgian, Moldovan wines

Russia asked Belarus and Kazakhstan, its partners in the Customs Union, to prevent import of wines and mineral water from Moldova and Georgia, Interfax news agency reported on Friday.

Russia's chief sanitary officer Gennady Onishchenko said he has informed his colleagues in Belarus and Kazakhstan that import of Moldovan and Georgian wines and mineral water had been restricted in Russia.

The official urged Minsk and Astana to prevent the infiltration of those products to Russia through the territories of Belarus and Kazakhstan.

"This does not mean we impose our will (to these two countries) and restrict their rights to use these products. Still we are in our right to demand the exclusive measures not to let those products into Russian territory. So we have used this right," Onishchenko, who is the head of state watchdog for consumer protection, said.

He added that Moldavan authorities could not improve the quality of wine they export to Russia.

"The main obstacle to normalization of the situation is the government of Moldova and its minister of agriculture. This makes us more pessimistic," he said.

Currently, some 300,000 liters of Moldovan wine have been stopped at the Russian customs border because it contained some harmful agents, according to Onishchenko.

Russia first embargoed Moldovan import in 2006.

Moscow often uses the violations of sanitary regulations of the food goods as an excuse to ban import of the certain products into Russia.

Critics say these restriction were politically motivated and used by Moscow as a unilateral trade embargo against the countries Kremlin is in brawls.

Source: Xinhua