Duma would be meditating to ban imports of wine in response to European sanctions meanwhile an official spokesman for the Russian government declined to comment on the Duma’s plan. The proposal is set to be discussed before the end of the year and is due to the French’s government decision to stop the transfer of Mistral amphibious assault ships to Russia, as a part of wider sanctions stated by the European Union.
Until now, the wine had been excluded from the embargo but news of a potential ban came as Russia’s consumer safety watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said it had suspended 3,000 litres of imported French wine from sale, because it either failed quality tests or didn’t come with the right paper. It also suspended a further 3,500 litres of domestic wine from sales for the same reasons. Official would not be specific about the identity of the imported wine, but most of it comes from Eastern Europe, according to spokesperson of the consumer safety agency.
Several Russia importers have criticised the Duma for considering a ban on wines items, fearing they could lose millions of dollars in sales. The ban would not be painless for Italy: in 2013 Italian wines had suffered a drop in purchase by 21% in quantity but with a 14,4% in value.