Those steeped in the Caucasus tradition of drinking wine know that when somebody toasts you, you should toast them back in gratitude. Likewise, Moscow could not leave unanswered Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's June 21 claims that Russia’s four-year ban on Georgian wine has only improved its quality since Georgian wine companies were forced to export to more selective markets.
The Russian food safety administration (Rospotrebnadzor) “was right to stop the inflow of the suspicious mixture,” declared the administration's chief, Genadiy Onishchenko, on June 22. “At one point, at the beginning of this epoch of our confrontation, I said that the time will come when Georgian winemakers will thank me [for the ban], just like the Moldovan ones.”
Onishchenko added that Georgians are welcome to ask for the return of Georgian wine to Russian stores.
Time will tell. But given the bitter differences between the two countries over Russia's post-war behavior toward breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia, it's unlikely that Tbilisi and Moscow will be raising a glass of Kinzmarauli together anytime soon.
Giorgi Lomsadze is a journalist based in Tbilisi, and author of Tamada Tales.
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