RUSSIA-CRISIS/FOOD REAX Russia campaign to destroy banned Western food provokes outrage

Record ID: 144867

  • Title: RUSSIA-CRISIS/FOOD REAX Russia campaign to destroy banned Western food provokes outrage
  • Date: 6th August 2015
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (AUGUST 6, 2015) (REUTERS) HOMELESS PEOPLE QUEUING FOR FREE FOOD HANDOUT HOMELESS PEOPLE EATING IN TENT MAN POURING FREE CABBAGE SOUP IN BOWL HOMELESS MAN EATING SOUP HOMELESS PEOPLE OUTSIDE TENT HOMELESS MAN EATING
  • Embargoed: 21st August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAAZ3FMUP19LPBWWBQJ87YV1RSB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Russian government plans for mass destruction of banned Western food imports have provoked outrage in a country where poverty rates are soaring and memories remain of famine during Soviet times.
    However, the authorities are determined to press on with destroying illegal imports they consider "a security threat".
    At a cabinet meeting at the end of July, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed displeasure over the fact that banned products from Western countries were still being imported.
    "Agricultural produce from the countries included in the sanctions list of the government of the Russian Federation in response (to Western sanctions) is continuing to be imported to our market. What is really going on? What is your assessment?", Putin asked the country's agriculture minister Alexander Tkachev.
    "I would like to ask you and the government of the Russian Federation to do everything possible so we would be able to deal with all agricultural cargo, all the food that is illegally imported across the Russian border and destroy it on the spot," Tkachev replied.
    Russian TV showed a small amount of illegally imported European cheese being bulldozed on Thursday (August 6) while even before the official start, zealous workers threw boxes of European bacon into an incinerator.
    Moscow banned many Western food imports last year in retaliation for sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union and other of their allies during the confrontation over Ukraine.
    But now many Russians say the government has lost sight of the everyday struggles faced by ordinary citizens.
    "I believe it is possible to find a better use for food rather than just burn it," said Alexander from Moscow.
    "It would be better to use it as humanitarian aid, to collect it and send it to those who need food," said Muscovite Rustam.
    But some Russians were in support of the government action.
    "Maybe it is good that they will destroy food. Because they may send us some spoilt food, nobody know what is there. I saw it on TV, that food is frozen, nobody knows what is in that food, it can be any kind of provocation," said Oleg from Moscow.
    "I think that people should be patriots. I think that all food should be home-grown. We have lots of food produced in Russia, we have lots of produce grown here," said Ekaterina, a Muscovite.
    More than 267,000 people have backed an online petition on Change.org, an international website that hosts campaigns, calling on President Vladimir Putin to revoke the decision and hand the food to people in need.
    "Sanctions have led to a major growth in food prices on Russian shelves. Russian pensioners, veterans, large families, the disabled and other needy social groups were forced to greatly restrict their diets, right up to starvation," it says. "If you can just eat these products, why destroy it?"
    The annual food price inflation is running at over 20 percent.
    Ekaterina Shulman, professor at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, said that throwing food was considered a taboo in Russian culture:
    "Every person who grew up and who lives in the Russian cultural context understands that there is a ban, there is a basic taboo in our cultural code which prohibits throwing food away. We were told when we were kids that only fascists throw bread away, that it is prohibited to even throw bread crumbs away, that it is prohibited to throw food on the floor."
    She said that destroying food produce was especially wrong in a country where several generations lived through famines.
    "Several generations in a row in our country lived in conditions of either outright lack of food, or a lack of certain food items. It was repeated one generation after another. If it was not an outright hunger, then it was what we called a "deficit" when we were going to Moscow to obtain such delicacies as butter and eggs. We have a specific attitude towards food as a very big treasure," Shulman said.
    Putin's decree ordering the food to be destroyed entered into force on Thursday.
    It does not specify methods but says the process should be carried out "by any available means" and videotaped, apparently to prevent corrupt officials from simply helping themselves and holding a feast.
    How much food has evaded the embargo is unclear, but considerable quantities appear to have slipped through the net by various routes, including via Belarus.
    The ban is currently in place until August 5, 2016.
    It covers a wide range of imports including pork, beef, poultry, fish and seafood, milk and dairy products, fruits, vegetables and nuts. It applies to food from the United States, EU, Canada, Australia and Norway.
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