KIEV, Feb. 6 – Russia on Tuesday will ban imports of a number of dairy products produced by some Ukrainian companies, potentially unleashing a trade war that may affect talks on natural gas prices.

Gennady Onishchenko, the head of the Russian consumer protection agency, said the ban will target those Ukrainian cheese companies that had refused to cooperate with the Russian government on inspections.

“This gives us the reason literally tomorrow to ban a number of producers,” Onishchenko said in Moscow on Monday cited by Interfax.

The move comes despite Ukraine’s vehemently objecting to allegations that some Ukrainian companies had not been sticking to Russian quality standards while making cheese.

But analysts said that the move comes as Moscow has been trying to put pressure on Kiev to force it to join the Russia-led trade bloc.

Andriy Honcharuk, a deputy chief of staff at the administration of President Viktor Yanukovych, on Monday - hours before Onishchenko had announced Moscow’s anti-cheese decision – tried to downplay the possibility of the trade war.

“Speaking of the trade wars, I believe this [cheese import bad] should not transform into this,” Honcharuk said at a press conference. “Although there is no clear answer what’s going on there.”

The developments come as Ukraine and Russia have failed to reach an agreement on lowering prices for Russian natural gas, and on giving the Russian gas company Gazprom access to Ukraine’s gas pipelines assets.

Honcharuk said that the delays with the gas price negotiations may further complicate trade between the two countries. “This may become a restraining factor in further developments of relations,” he said.

Speaking three weeks ago, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said that trade relations between Russia and Ukraine have been strictly regulated by mutual agreement and that “nobody is allowed to violate them.”

Azarov also warned that any move against the Ukrainian cheese will backfire against the Russians.

"If our Russian colleagues restrict the access of Ukrainian goods to their market, first and foremost, they will suffer, because our cheese is of good quality and its price is lower,” Azarov said on January 17.

“It means that Russian citizens will be forced to buy more expensive Polish cheese or face a rise in prices, as often happens when the domestic market closes," Azarov said.

While visiting the Khmelnytsky Dairy Plant in western regions of Ukraine, Azarov said that their cheese was really good.

"I tried some cheese in front of a camera, I familiarized myself with the technology, and I can tell my Russian partners and colleagues that they still need to make a lot of effort to ensure that Russian cheese factories produce cheese of such quality,” he said. “Our products are of high quality, we meet all standards, and there should be no complaints about us." (tl/ez)