OREANDA-NEWS. October 25, 2011. The Federal Service for Consumer Rights Protection Rospotrebnadzor intends to limit the import of the Kvint cognac produced in Transnistria's administrative centre Tiraspol, the head of the service, Gennady Onishchenko, said last week.

Onishchenko said that Rospotrebnadzor has objections to the quality of the Transnistrian cognac, adding that the import of Kvint might be banned in the near future.

Kvint is produced by Transnistria's biggest producer of alcoholic beverages.

The warning came several days after the Russian presidential administration expressed discontent with the fact that incumbent Transnistrian leader Igor Smirnov, who has been heading the region for 20 years, had entered the race for the December 2011 elections. The Russian press has written that often when political relations between Russia and other parties worsen, Rospotrebnadzor comes out with objections to the quality of imported goods.

In 2006, Russia banned the import of Moldovan alcoholic beverages, alleging that they did not meet quality standards. Moldova resumed the export of wine to the Russian market in 2009, with the state budget and wineries incurring huge losses. In seven months of 2011, Russia ranked third among Moldova's partners in terms of wine export.