If that food is banned, it will now be destroyed on sight in Russia

The Russian government has passed new regulations tightening the embargo on Western food products: from now on, if found, banned products will be destroyed on sight.

Vasily Itskov, the head of the dispute-settlement company Horizont Capital, told the Russian newspaper Kommersant that the new regulations put three state agencies in charge of the confiscation and destruction of goods: these are the Federal Customs Service, the Federal Service for Consumer Rights, and the Federal Monitoring Service for Veterinary and Vegetation Sanitation.

Itskov implies that these three agencies will not only stop banned goods at the border, but will also destroy them, if they're found anywhere in the country, since it's not only customs officials who are charged with confiscation duties.

A source close to the Ministry of Agriculture confirmed Itskov’s conclusions. The source told Kommersant that “all retail storage facilities will be inspected by the Federal Service for Consumer Rights.”

Retail companies have stated that sanctioned products are no longer sold or stored in Russia. Oksana Tokareva, a representative of the company Metro Cash&Carry, said that the products imported before the restrictions came into effect were still sold for a short time after the embargo began. However, according to Tokareva, these goods were all sold off a long ago.

“This means that, if customs officers, or consumer-rights officers, or sanitation officers find banned products in the storage facilities of mass retailers, for example, [the products] will be destroyed in accordance with the general rules,” said Vasily Itskov.

Earlier, Minister of Agriculture Alexander Tkachev lobbied for the destruction of imported food products. On July 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he supports this initiative.

On July 28, it was reported that the Ministry of Agriculture had drawn up new rules on the destruction of sanctioned products. Meanwhile, the federal government has drawn up another document based on the Ministry’s suggestions, and this document is currently under review at several state agencies. On July 29, President Putin signed a decree ordering the destruction of sanctioned goods.

The EU currently has sanctions in place against Russia for the annexation of Crimea and Moscow's participation in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. In retaliation for the extension of EU sanctions, Russia also extended its embargo on a number of goods from the EU, mostly food products.

In June, the EU extended its sanctions regime to January 2016. In return, Russian extended its embargo for another year.