Russia has heaped pressure on Ukraine not to ratify a trade pact with the European Union, suggesting Kiev could face a total ban on its food exports.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow was holding talks with the EU and its partners in a customs union which links several ex-Soviet states, but "under certain circumstances we would be forced to take protective measures".
Ukraine last month signed an Association Agreement with Brussels that opens up to Kiev the huge EU market of 500 million consumers, along with bringing it help in modernising its economy.
Kiev's signing the EU deal was a bitter pill to swallow for Russia, which wanted Ukraine to join its own trade bloc and Moscow has expressed concern that it could see a flood of re-exported EU products.
An official of Russia's veterinary inspection service said that if Ukraine begins to implement the EU agreement it will stray from its previous practices agreed with Russia.
"Therefore, there exists the likelihood of a complete halt in the import of all (food) products," Alexei Alekseyenko, an adviser to the head of the veterinary service, told RIA-Novosti news agency.
Russia earlier this month banned meat and fruit imports from Moldova, another ex-Soviet state that also signed an EU Association Agreement.
Russia has frequently blocked food imports citing health concerns, sparking accusations from its partners of using trade as a political weapon.
Kiev has come under mounting pressure from some quarters at home to quickly ratify the agreement, although it has several months to do so.
Russian Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev warned that if Kiev ratifies the EU deal, Moscow will halt its participation in three-way talks on the implementation of the deal "and we could take unilateral measures to defend our economic interests".
A senior Ukrainian official said on Wednesday that the EU deal would be ratified by the end of August, before the next scheduled meeting in September of Ukrainian, Russian and EU experts to discuss the implementation of the agreement.
Alekseyenko said negotiations could find a solution that would avoid a block to the import of Ukrainian food products, but that so far, Kiev had not responded to a request for talks.
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