Putin Signs Decree of Sanctions on Product Destruction

Exactly one year after the Russian sanctions were imposed against Europe, President of Russia Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to destroy all products that fall under the food embargo. This decree will come into force on August 6. The idea to destroy sanctioned products right on the border came from Minister of Agriculture of Russia, Alexander Tkachev.

Minister Tkachev proposed to destroy those products which are imported in circumvention of the embargo, but currently returned to the sender. The decree states that these provisions do not apply to goods imported by individuals for personal use.

“I would take this opportunity and ask you and the Russian government to do everything possible to destroy on the spot all consignments of products that come illegally across the border into the Russian Federation,” Tkachev said in an address to President Putin on July 26. The minister explained that, according to current regulation, illegal goods that pass through the border must be sent back. Putin agreed with the new idea and lawyers are working on the document.

On August 7, 2014, the Russian government published a list of products that are prohibited to import into Russia from the United States, European Union, Canada, Australia and Norway. The measures were taken as a response to the sanctions of the West in reaction to the situation in Ukraine.

The black list includes cattle meat, pork, poultry, salted meat, fish and seafood. Restrictions also touched milk and dairy products: cheese, cottage cheese, sausages and similar products of meat, vegetables, roots, fruits and nuts.

In June this year the injunction was extended for a year, until August 2016.

Later it became known that seven European countries – Montenegro, Albania, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Ukraine and Georgia had joined the list on the sanction extension. Six of these countries also joined the EU decision to extend the EU economic sanctions against Russia before January 31, 2016. Georgia was not one of those six. This news comes from the statement of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy published on the EU Council’s website on July 28 reported by the TassNews Agency.

Eka Karsaulidze