TBILISI, April 4 (RIA Novosti, Marina Kvaratskhelia) - The Georgian government is planning to hold a festival to promote its local wines in Russia, the country's prime minister said Tuesday.

"The decision to ban imports of our wines to Russia is illegal, unfair and, in my opinion, an unfriendly move that could seriously hurt our winemakers," Zurab Nogaideli said.

On March 21, Russia's chief doctor, Gennady Onishchenko, said he was deeply concerned over the quality of Georgian and Moldovan wines and that the country should impose a ban on imports.

Citing numerous violations of health regulations, Onishchenko suspended health and hygiene permits for wine imports from Moldova and Georgia starting from March 27 until the violations are eliminated.

Nogaideli said the festival was designed to demonstrate the high quality of Georgian wines to Russian consumers.

Nogaideli said earlier he was certain that the country's wines would return to the Russian markets and that the foreign ministers of the two countries were currently discussing the issue.

Levan Koberidze, chairman of the Georgian Association of Winemakers, said the organization would check all of the tests on wines that had been conducted by Russian laboratories.

Similar festivals are expected to be held in Ukraine and Kazakhstan.