The Russian consumer protection watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said in a statement that it had instructed the customs office not to allow Lithuanian dairy products into the country.
Pieno Žvaigždės and Rokiškio Sūris were mentioned among the companies whose products allegedly do not meet the requirements.
Ministry has no information
The Lithuanian Agriculture Ministry says that it has no information about Russia's decision to suspend Lithuanian dairy product imports.
"We have not received any official information, apart from that available on their (Rospotrebnadzor) website. We cannot respond until there is official information. Besides, the minister is leaving for Moscow tomorrow. Perhaps some information will be received during meetings there," Ramunė Visockytė, the ministry's spokeswoman, told BNS.
Rokiškio Sūris Board Chairman Dalius Trumpa told BNS on Monday morning that he had no information about a suspension of exports.
Gintaras Bertašius, the CEO and majority shareholder of Vilkyškių Pieninė, also told BNS that he had no information about a possible blockade.
"We have no information. I have spoken to partners recently. They could not tell me anything more specific. So I cannot make any comment at the moment," he said.
Pieno Žvaigždės spokeswoman Virginija Žygienė also told BNS that she had no information about a ban on the company's products in Russia.
Unprecedented
Russia's decision to bar Lithuanian dairy products from entering the country without informing Lithuania's authorities is unprecedented, the head of Lithuania's food safety watchdog said on Monday.
"This is the first ever such non-procedural case in Lithuania. If there were claims, we were informed about them officially. It would seem that we should receive an informal notification now too. I don't know at the moment how things will go," Jonas Milius, the director of the Lithuanian State Food and Veterinary Service, told BNS.
Dalius Trumpa, the board chairman at Rokiškio Sūris, one of Lithuania's leading dairy groups, told BNS that there was no experience of working with Russia's Russian consumer protection watchdog Rospotrebnadzor.
"In the past, (Russia's veterinary and phytosanitary surveillance service) Rosselkhoznadzor would contact the (Lithuanian) State Food and Veterinary Service, which would then inform us. We don't know how it is with Rospotrebnadzor. Perhaps this service can give direct instructions," he said.
According to Statistics Lithuania, the country exported 31,000 tons of dairy products, worth 362.8 million litas (EUR 105.2m), to Russia during the first seven months of this year.
BNS calculated that dairy products accounted for around 3.9 percent of Lithuania's overall exports to Russia during this period, worth 9.407 billion litas in total.
Lithuania's dairy product exports to Russia in the full year 2012 totalled 44,650 tons, up 10.7 percent from 40,340 tons in 2011. The value of the exports increased by 12.9 percent to 523.271 million litas, from 463.7 million litas.
