MOSCOW, October 22 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's agricultural regulator said on Wednesday that 20 Belarusian milk and poultry companies will be banned from exporting their products to Russia as of November 1 due to flaws in quality control.

"Rosselkhoznadzor adopted a decision to exclude 20 companies from the list of Belarusian firms with licenses to export dairy and meat products to Russia, starting November 1, 2008," the regulator said in a statement.

The decision was made following the failure of the Belarusian authorities to carry out audits of 35 firms, which were inspected by Rosselkhoznadzor in August and were allowed to export their produce to Russia only after guarantees by the Belarusian State Veterinary Service.

The Russian experts also discovered serious flaws in the Belarusian system of food quality control.