BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

06/06/2009

Belarus rages after Moscow bans its milk products

Moscow has banned milk and dairy products from Belarus amid a widening rift between the two ex-Soviet neighbours.

Russian public-health and consumer-protection official Gennady Onishchenko said that he had banned the imports and sales on Saturday because Belarus had failed to observe the latest regulations on such products.

The step came after an angry Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko accused Russia of trying to wrest control over his nation's milk factories.

Mr Lukashenko said that he had been told by Russian officials that they would not allow Belarus to sell its milk to Russia if it refused to hand over control of the factories.

"I told them: 'Goodbye, we won't allow you to talk to us like that'," Mr Lukashenko said. "We will rather die and spill this milk on the ground."

Belarus's chief sanitary official Valentina Kachan insisted that her country had done everything to comply with new Russian regulations, which contain detailed requirements for production, storage and packing of milk and dairy products.

Russia and Belarus have an accord envisaging close political, economic and military ties and they declared a joint goal of building a single state.

Source:

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/world/belarus_rages_after_moscow_bans_its_milk_products

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