MOSCOW, April 8 (RIA Novosti) - There are no political motives behind Russia's ban on Georgian and Moldovan wines, Russia's chief doctor said Saturday.
Russia suspended imports of Moldovan and Georgian wine on March 27 following hygiene concerns raised by Gennady Onishchenko, who said it failed to meet numerous health and safety regulations.
Onishchenko said the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare, which he heads, is willing to hold talks with the two countries to resolve the situation, and that the talks should not be politically driven.
"The only thing that concerns my department is protecting consumers and their health," he said.
"It is important to work with Georgia and Moldova to decide what should be done to prevent the influx of fake and unsafe products, and prevent them entering the Russian wine market, in which, for example, pesticides are categorically forbidden."
Onishchenko said Moldova had responded very constructively to the issue; the country's embassy in Moscow has provided a list of experts with which talks will be held during the week.
"Unfortunately such a constructive approach has not been seen from the Georgian side," he said.
With bootlegging a lucrative underground industry in Russia, health officials conducted a series of raids on shops in Moscow last month in an effort to weed out poor-quality wines purporting to be prized labels from both Georgia and Moldova, whose relations with Russia have deteriorated over a number of issues in recent months.
