MOSCOW, June 9 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has expanded its list of banned food products from Belarus to include most dairy products, the head of Russia's consumer rights regulator said Tuesday.
"I extended the list today, and currently almost all dairy products are banned from entering Russia," Rospotrebnadzor chief Gennady Onishchenko told the Vesti 24 TV channel.
He said that the regulator has tolerated Belarusian producers' violations of standards for almost half a year, but that the ban now lists over 1,000 items.
"We would like to pay our money for products that are in line with our national standards," he said.
Tuesday's extension of the list applies to 800 dairy products. On Saturday, Russia banned almost 500 Belarusian milk import items, saying producers in the ex-Soviet republic had failed to comply with new laws.
Onishchenko earlier said Russia had asked for negotiations with Belarus on the issue, but that its requests had been turned down. He warned in late April that Belarus was failing to comply with Russian regulations regarding diary products introduced in December 2008.
