MOSCOW, May 5 (RIA Novosti, Yekaterina Yefimova) - Supplies of popular Georgian sparkling mineral water Borjomi will be redirected from Russia to other former Soviet republics, a spokesman for Borjomi's producer said Friday.
The announcement came after Russia's chief doctor banned imports of Borjomi to the country alleging documentation irregularities.
Sergei Rybak, a spokesman for GG&MW, the main producer and supplier of Borjomi, said the company had decided Friday to terminate supplies of the mineral water to Russia and redistribute them to other former Soviet states.
"Most likely, this will be Ukraine. We are also studying the markets of Azerbaijan and other former Soviet republics, and are starting an ad campaign in the Baltic states," he said regarding where 60% of Borjomi volumes would be redirected.
Speaking about the potential damage Georgia might incur due to the ban, Rybak said Borjomi's share in the country's economy was just 0.3% of GDP. He said Borjomi sales in Russia constituted 35% of the holding's annual turnover.
On Thursday, Gennady Onishchenko, who heads Russia's Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare, said he had given orders to local service branches to seize bottles of Borjomi.
"Checks that uncovered batches of mineral water Borjomi without proper documents gave me grounds for ordering the customs service to ban imports of this mineral water into Russia," Gennady Onishchenko said Thursday.
The move came six weeks after Onishchenko banned imports of Georgian wines over concerns that they contained traces of pesticides and heavy metals. The ban was extended to cognac and champagne days later.
Rybak said no official documents explaining the ban had been received. He said his company had held its own tests of the mineral water and that it conformed to regulations.
GG&MW/IDS comprises three plants in Georgia and two companies in Ukraine. The company's earnings in 2005 were $120 million.
The general director of GG&MW's Georgian office said there were no grounds to ban Borjomi imports to Russia, and said Onishchenko's decision was "illogical."
"Not a single bottle of counterfeited Borjomi comes from Georgia to Russia, I guarantee," Zaza Kikvadze said. "Cases of counterfeit Borjomi in Russia do not exceed 1%. This is the result of our common cooperation between the Borjomi company and the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare."
He said the decision was "a result of misunderstanding."
Onishchenko said he had requested the Borjomi producers to share their information on fake batches discovered in Moscow.
"I had hoped the situation with [Georgian] wine would not be repeated, as it is a more civilized market, but the producers' inertia forced me to give up these hopes," he said.
Wine and mineral water are two of Georgia's biggest exports, and the March ban further strained already tense relations between Moscow and Tbilisi.
