‘They eat, clean their faces, and lie to TV cameras’ Reports from the first two days of Russia’s food-destruction campaign

Vladimir Putin has ordered any banned food imports discovered on Russian territory to be destroyed on sight. His executive decree, however, is short on details on how exactly officials are meant to carry out this massive undertaking. As a result, various state actors and agencies have used all manner of available resources to burn, bulldoze, and bury hundreds of tons of boycotted foods. Meduza reviews the first two days of this curious campaign. 

On August 6 alone, 290 tons of food were destroyed in Russia. According to officials charged with inspecting storage facilities, a total of 400 tons of sanctioned products have already been marked for liquidation. "This isn't a one-stage campaign, it’s serious work," an official from Russia's Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance told reporters this week.

The campaign kicked off in Russia’s Belgorod region with a 45-ton bulldozer flattening 10 tons of illicit cheese. The cheese was then buried in a field. Officials dealing with banned cheese at Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg, however, elected to burn their confiscated contraband. On August 6, Pulkovo officials set fire to 20 tons of cheese from Germany, which had been stuck at the border since last year.

The Russian company Turmalin, which specializes in producing crematoriums, is stepping up production to meet the suddenly rising demand. “If a truck with 15-to-20 tons of illicit cargo comes to the border, the standard operating power [of an incinerator] will not be enough,” says Mikhail Vostrikov, Turmalin CEO. The company is busy updating its machines to burn more food, faster and more efficiently. Turmalin already boasts two mobile crematoriums that can travel, on demand, to storage facilities containing illicit products.

Fresh fruits and vegetables have also been targeted. On the day the food destruction decree came into effect, 73 tons of peaches and nectarines were found at the Belarus-Russia border, allegedly en route to Russia from Turkey. Inspectors found that the cargo certificates had been forged, and the peaches and nectarines had actually come from the EU. The fruit was scheduled to be bulldozed. The next day, 180 tons of cherries, grapes, peaches, and nectarines with fake Turkish certificates were also arrested at the border and smashed to a pulp.

The same fate awaited 1.5 tons of tomatoes. Inspectors a the Belarus-Russia border discovered that the labels had been torn off the vegetables. When the driver was told that the vegetables in his truck were up for destruction, he suddenly veered around and drove the cargo back to Belarus. Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance reported that the tomatoes were stolen.

Meanwhile, Russian opposition politician and anti-corruption activist Alexey Navalny disclosed that Russian state agencies have continued to order banned products for their own needs. Navalny wrote in his blog that, in 2015 alone, the Moscow Mayor’s Office ordered catering for 4.6 million rubles ($71,500) that included Brie, Gruyère, Rockforth, and Dorblu cheeses on the menu. The Ministry of Defense held a 7-million-ruble ($106,800) banquet last month, serving parmesan. Navalny also uncovered that the Interior Ministry signed an 8.3-million-ruble ($129,000) contract with a catering company that will serve mozzarella and parmesan.

According to Navalny, these are just three examples of numerous violations of the embargo regime by state agencies. “They eat Dorblu cheese, dab their mouths with a napkin, and then turn to the camera and talk about how right it is to destroy European products,” writes Navalny.