SOCHI, September 19. /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian government has not considered banning wine imports, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said on Friday.

Golodets said that "today the government is focused on supporting Russian producers," including winemakers in Crimea and the Krasnodar Territory, southern Russia.

This is reaction to media reports earlier in the week that some Russian lawmakers considered that a ban on cars, tobacco and wine from the European Union and the United States in response to Western sanctions over events in Ukraine was a real possibility.

First deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Industry Vladimir Gutenev earlier said restricted wine deliveries from France, Germany and Italy could help promote Crimean wine products. Vladimir Slepak, chairman of the Civic Chamber Commission for Social Support and Life Quality, proposed extending Russia’s embargo on Western food imports by banning alcohol and tobacco from the EU and the US.

Russia's food import ban

Russia banned imports of meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables from the United States, the 28-nation European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway for 12 months at the beginning of August, retaliating for Western sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine.

Since then, Russia has been in talks with Latin and South American countries, the Middle East and Asia to replace prohibited produce.