Georgian mineral water and wines to return to Russia

Borjomi, the legendary Georgian mineral water, may return to the Russian market soon. Officials with Russia's Federal Consumer Rights Protection Agency (Rospotrebnadzor) said, IDS Borjomi Company has already provided the package of necessary documents to the Russian agency. The documents guarantee the quality and safety of its products.

Georgian businessmen are also willing to struggle against counterfeit Borjomi water that inundated the Russian stores several years ago.

The return of both the Georgian mineral water and wines to Russia was predicted a long time ago, says GTimes. The producers of the mineral water enjoy the lobby of very important structures from abroad.

"We welcome the return of all Georgian products, - said Vladimir Khomeriki, president of the Fund for the Unification of Russian and Georgian People. - But Borjomi - this is not a product, which the Georgian people would be interested in selling to Russia. I've said before said that the principal owner of Borjomi is oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who holds 70 percent of shares. The production of Borjomi in Georgia does not involve the Georgian labor force. The production of Borjomi only means pumping this water from under the ground, but only a group of people get the profit. So the Georgian people are not really interested in that. For more than a year we have been negotiating the return of Georgian wines to the Russian market. There are 400,000 Georgians involved in the wine industry of the country. But, unfortunately, no results have been achieved yet - there's only talking. We have met all requirements of the Russian Consumer Rights Protection Agency. We have submitted all papers there twice. They promised to send observers to Georgia. Unfortunately, the Federal Service is only interested in those who lobby these issues in their own commercial purposes," the official said.

The decree that banned Borjomi on the Russian market was signed in 2006 by the head of the Russian Federal Service for Protection of Consumer Rights, Gennady Onishchenko, who also serves as the Chief Sanitary Doctor of Russia. Onishchenko explained back then that the Georgian mineral water was banned in Russia due to numerous violations of quality and safety norms.