The battle for influence over former Soviet states is being played out not just in central Kyev, but also in the vineyards of Moldova with major financial consequences. <br /><br />Russia has again banned imports of Moldovan wine saying it has found impurities – as it did in 2006 – but the effect this time around is not so dramatic, according to the country’s biggest producer, Vinaria Purcari <br /><br />The company’s chief executive, Victor Bostan, said it was much worse then: “In 2006 I lost more than $10 million because of the embargo. In 2013 I lost around $1 million.”<br /><br />After the 2006 embargo his company changed its export strategy.<br /><br />Before 2006, 80 percent of their wine went to Russia; when the latest ban came into effect last September it was only 20 percent. <br /><br />Increasingly Moldovan wine is heading not east but west, to Europe which has relaxed import restrictions. <br /><br />EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos told euronews: “The European Union has fully opened up its market to Moldovan wine, there a
