Over the past year, the Russian authorities have banned most fresh produce from those countries, which have imposed economic sanctions, following the annexation of Crimea. But on 6 August, a new presidential decree came into force, requiring any ‘contraband’ food products that have crossed the border to be destroyed. The same day, the internet was inundated with photos of people scrabbling for peaches, oranges and cheese, which had been inadequately buried by bulldozers.
‘The main reason for this measure is to ensure the implementation of Russia’s counter-sanctions’, explained Dmitry Peskov, President Putin’s press spokesman.
On the first day after the decree came into force, 320 tonnes of ‘sanctioned’ foodstuffs were destroyed. In Belgorod, near the Ukrainian border, a bulldozer buried 10 tonnes of Ukrainian cheese, while in the Leningrad region surrounding St Petersburg, 40 tonnes of peaches and nectarines suffered the same fate (their country of origin was impossible to establish, so it was assumed they came from an EU country).
