Milk War

The dispute over a Russian ban on Belarussian milk products.

On June 6, Russia imposed a ban on milk products from Belarus, alleging the country was failing to comply with new labeling regulations. This ban, as Marina Kaminev wrote in Time, prompted “a so-called milk war that has seen tensions between the former allies escalate daily.” According to Kaminev:

Russia has a tradition of banning goods from neighboring countries at the first sign of disagreement, like the 2005 ban (which has since been lifted) of Polish meat after Poland joined the E.U. and the 2006 ban of Georgian wine after Tblisi accused Moscow of spying.

According to The Times’s Ellen Barry, Belarussian politicians have attributedthe milk ban to Belarus’s refusal to bow to Russia’s will. Issues of contention between the two countries include Belarus’s decision not to recognize the Georgian break-away regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia, disputes over energy prices, and Belarus’s improved relations with the West.

In response to the milk ban, Belarus’s President, Aleksandr Lukashenko, boycotted a recent security summit organized by the C.T.S.O. (an alliance of former Soviet nations). Lukashenko subsequently argued that the summit’s decision to establish a joint rapid-reaction force (to rival NATO’s) was “illigitimate” because of Belarus’s non-attendance. The Russian President, Dmitri Medvedev, said in response:

“I hope that these milk hysterics do not in the end spoil work on the collective rapid-reaction force.”

However, as The Times of London recently reported: “in a further sign of deteriorating ties, the head of Belarus’ border service said yesterday that Minsk was ready to re-establish controls on its border with Russia.”