20 tonnes of smuggled Latvian cheese to be destroyed in Russia

Take note – story published 8 years ago

20 tonnes of Latvian-produced cheese Rossiysky will be destroyed on Thursday in Orenburg, Russia, according to Interfax newswire. Sanctioned products will be destroyed starting today as an according decree by the President of Russia has come into force.

The cheese - actually labelled Russian [cheese] - that was caught in Orenburg had made its way into Russia through Kazakhstan. It was in a truck with Kazakh license plates. 

"The cheese will be destroyed mechanically in a designated location that has all the necessary permits and specialized machinery," said Yulia Melano, spokeswoman for Russia's agriculture watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor.  

Furthermore, this won't be a one-time thing, as a decree for destroying all sanctioned produce on the border comes in force on Thursday. Assistant chief of Rosselkhoznadzor Alexey Alekseenko has said that sanctioned products will be destroyed daily from now on, according to RBC newswire. Previously they had been sent back to the country of origin.

According to Sergey Dankvert, head of the Rosselkhoznadzor, a few hundred tons of sanctioned products will be destroyed today, reported the same RBC story.

Incidentally, sanctions may not be enough to outclass human ingenuity. One truck carrying 1.5 tonnes of "fresh tomatoes without a phytosanitary certificate" was detained on the border between Belarus and Russia. It was decided that the tomatoes will be destroyed, as "a lack of of labels, and traces of label removal were established". Upon hearing this, the driver promptly drove the truck into Belarus. 

Latvian fish canneries and dairy firms have been hit particularly hard by mutual sanctions between Europe and Russia. 

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