Russia imposed an embargo in March 2006 citing consumer safety, but many experts believe it was a politically motivated decision. The ban has dealt a severe blow to the small, impoverished ex-Soviet nation's economy, bringing many winemaking enterprises to the brink of bankruptcy.
"The products of five Moldovan winemaking companies will appear on the Russian market not earlier than in a month. Further on, the list of suppliers will be extended," Gennady Onishchenko said.
Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin said earlier his country had met all the demands put forward by Russian food safety regulators, introducing a rigorous quality control and certification system for wines and liquors sold both domestically and abroad.
Relations between Russia and Moldova have been strained over Transdnestr, a breakaway republic in Moldova with an ethnic Russian majority, which proclaimed its independence from Moldova after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
