CHISINAU, April 6 (RIA Novosti) - A top Moldovan wine industry official said Thursday that the country is losing millions of dollars daily from a ban on Russian import of the country's wine.

Georgy Kozub, the head the Moldovan association of wine exporters, said the situation was approaching critical, as the wine industry is a major source of budget revenue.

"Wine production has stopped in the country," Kozub said. "About 500,000 people involved in the wine and other agricultural sectors remain unemployed."

Russia suspended imports of Moldovan and Georgian wine March 27 following hygiene concerns raised by chief doctor Gennady Onishchenko, who said it failed to meet numerous health and safety regulations.

Kozub added that the Russian market was strategically important for Moldova, as it consumes 85% of the country's wine exports.

"The remaining 15% is exported to Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and other countries," he said.

With bootlegging a lucrative underground industry in Russia, health officials conducted a series of raids on shops in Moscow last month in an effort to weed out poor-quality wines purporting to be prized labels from both Georgia and Moldova, whose relations with Russia have deteriorated over a number of issues in recent months.