Russia destroys Western cheese, fruit to enforce ban

MOSCOW – The Russian government steamrolled tons of contraband cheese and destroyed fruit with tractors Thursday in a public display of its commitment to its year-old ban on Western foods.

The move, however, has raised protests in Russia, with people signing a petition urging the government to instead donate the food to the poor suffering through the country’s vicious recession.

Coupled with the ruble’s sharp depreciation, the ban on Western food has helped drive consumer prices up, pushing an increasing number of Russians below the poverty line.

The Kremlin, hoping to stem the flow of banned products by raising the costs for those involved in contraband, has ignored the public outcry. President Vladimir Putin’s order to destroy the food underlines the Kremlin’s determination to enforce the ban amid continuing tensions with Europe and the U.S. over the Ukrainian crisis.

The national agricultural oversight agency, Rosselkhznadzor, said a total of 290 metric tons of banned imported fruit and vegetables – nearly 640,000 pounds – were destroyed around the country on Thursday, along with about 65,000 pounds of animal products.

It took a steamroller about an hour to crush nearly 20,000 pounds of contraband cheese in the Belgorod region near Russia’s western border. Officials in St. Petersburg were prepared to burn 44,000 pounds of cheese in incinerators, while authorities in Smolensk, another western border city, planned to use tractors to destroy some 132,000 pounds of peaches and tomatoes.

Russia slapped a ban on many Western agricultural products, including meat, milk products, vegetables and fruit on Aug. 6, 2014, in retaliation for the U.S. and EU sanctions over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and support for pro-Russian insurgents in Ukraine. Last month, the Kremlin extended the ban for a year following the EU’s decision to prolong its sanctions through January.

Defending the ban, Putin has said it helped create incentives for local agricultural producers. Many farmers have lauded the move, hoping to fill the niche previously held by imports.

Experts warn, however, that while some local farmers have thrived, it would take years for Russia to reach self-sufficiency on food and prices will rise, hurting the population.