2009 Russian ban of Belarusian dairy products

During a visit of President Putin to the Belarus capital Minsk, Russia expressed interest in the privatisation of some of Belarus's major milk producers. The response to this by the Belarusian government was to start talks with the European Union on certification of Belarusian milk standards according to EU norms.

The reaction of Russia was to send along its health inspectors, headed by Gennady Onishchenko, head of Russia’s public health and consumer protection agency Rospotrebnadzor that previously banned the import from several food products of Polish, Moldovan, Latvian and Georgian origin. He advised Moscow to ban all imports of Belarusian dairy products, claiming they fell short in proper certification, and Russian media then spread the rumour that Belarusian dairy products could be "hazardous for health". The Russian authorities banned Belarusian milk and dairy imports and sales on June 6, 2009. Milk and dairy products are important export for Belarus’ agricultural sector, which employs one out of 10 people in the nation of 10 million. The dispute is popularly referred to as milk war by press.

These developments deepened a politically charged dispute between the two ex-Soviet neighbors which are linked through a special treaty of alliance. Onishchenko's announcement came a day after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko claimed that Russia made a $500 million loan contingent on its recognition of independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia. According to Reuters, the relations between Belarus and Russia have been at low since 2007, with Minsk being upset at rising prices for Russian gas and Moscow by Lukashenko's rapprochement with the European Union.

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