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Russian authorities announced on Tuesday, Nov. 28, that Russia will lift its ban on Moldovan wine and meat products that was imposed earlier this year. The move appears to be aimed at easing Moscow’s entry into the World Trade Organization.

In banning Moldovan wine imports, Russian authorities cited quality concerns. A Moldovan official said at the time that the small, poor country would only support Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization if the wine ban was reversed and other imports of agricultural produce allowed.

«We agreed on the resumption of supplies of meat from Moldova and wine», Russian President Vladimir Putin was quoted by the Associated Press. The announcement came in televised comments, with Putin seated next to Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin on the sidelines of a summit of former Soviet republics in Belarus.

Although Putin said the ban would be lifted, he stressed that imports would be tightly controlled and subject to quality checks by Moldovan and Russian officials. He indicated that only wine going through approved warehouses would be imported in order to protect against counterfeit or low-quality wine.

He did not say when the ban would be lifted, but suggested the process would start immediately.

Voronin said Moldova had taken major steps to improve quality control in its wine industry.

Russia also prohibited Georgian wine imports last spring, and both bans were widely seen as politically motivated punishment for the Westward shifts by the leaders of the two countries, which have sought to distance themselves from the Kremlin.

Moldova and Georgia scrambled to find new markets for their wine, which was renowned in the Soviet Union and as a less expensive alternative to imports from Europe and other regions, was highly popular in Russia before the bans.

Wine exports made up about 30 percent of Moldova’s gross domestic product, and Moldova sold 80 percent of its wine to Russia before the ban. Last year Moldova exported $313 million worth of wine abroad.

Russia is closing in on its long-held goal of WTO membership, inking a bilateral deal this month with the United States that was the last major obstacle to joining the 149-member group that sets global trade rules, but Georgia and Moldova have both threatened to block Moscow's bid.

Russian Trade Minister German Gref said this month that he hopes the disputes with Moldova and Georgia can be resolved and the bilateral deals Russia has forged with 57 countries consolidated by mid-2007.

Putin also said Russia and Moldova would resume a dialogue aimed at resolving Moldova's conflict with Trans-Dniester, a Slavic-majority region that broke away from central government control in a war in the early 1990s. He said lower-level officials had been at work seeking to bring Moldova and the separatist region closer in their positions.