Russia has banned the import of 500 types of milk products from Belarus, the country's top health official said Saturday, Interfax reported.

The announcement comes a day after Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko claimed that Russia made a $500 million loan contingent on its recognition of two separatist Georgian regions as independent states.

Tensions between the neighbors have been ratcheted up over the past week after Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin denied a loan request citing solvency concerns, earning a rebuke from Lukashenko, who said Kudrin was like members of Belarus' opposition -- "hoodlums who bark for Western money and teach us how to work."

President Dmitry Medvedev hit back Thursday, calling the remark unacceptable, saying, "We never allow and won't allow ourselves personal comments about the leadership of other countries."

Gennady Onishchenko, head of the Federal Consumer Protection Service, said Saturday that Belarussian milk had failed health standards. But Belarus denied this, calling the move a "warning signal."

"The ban is in force as of today," media cited Onishchenko as saying. "I warned Belarus. But a month has passed, and there has been no fundamental change."

Belarus earns billions of dollars from its dairy exports and last year had about 4 percent of the Russian market.

A Belarussian government source said the products that were banned had in any case not been cleared for export to Russia.

Lukashenko on Friday told state media that a loan that Belarus had requested from Russia was offered contingent on its recognizing the statehood of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, adding that Belarus' support was not for sale.

"It has come to this -- they came and said: If there's South Ossetia and Abkhazia, there will also be $500 million," Lukashenko said in the interview, reprinted by the official BelTA news agency.

"You know, we don't want to sell issues and positions. ... We will decide on this issue by ourselves."

Moscow has been unofficially putting pressure on Belarus, its long-standing ally, to recognize the two regions. But Lukashenko has resisted the pressure, saying this is a matter for the Belarussian parliament to decide.

"Maybe we'll recognize, maybe we won't recognize. Today, tomorrow, the day after. In comparison to what is happening around Belarus, this is not the most important issue. But we understand that yes, for Russia, recognition would be useful."

Also on Friday, Belarussian Finance Minister Andrei Kharkovets said Belarus had resolved all issues raised by the International Monetary Fund and expects the second tranche of a $2.4 billion standby program possibly in July.

An IMF mission last month assessed Belarus' progress and the fund was expected to release $400 million in June, but the mission left without announcing any concrete details. (Reuters, MT)