In Russia, outrcy erupts over destruction of smuggled food

Russian President Vladimir Putin's order to destroy food imported illegally from the European Union food - everything from wheels of cheeses to fruits and vegetables - has been met with shock and derision in the country reeling from economic crisis.

Domestic television showed officials dumping truckloads of orange cheeses on a patch of wasteland and then flattening them with a steamroller in the Belgorod region near Ukraine.

Russia's food safety agency Rosselkhoznadzor reported that the 9 tons of ruined cheese would be buried.

"From today, agricultural produce, raw products and foods, which come from a country that has decided to impose economic sanctions on Russian legal entities or individuals ... and which are banned from import into Russia, are due to be destroyed," the agriculture ministry said in a statement.

Sanctions over Ukraine

Russia had slapped a ban on many Western agricultural products, including meat, dairy products and fresh produce last year in retaliation to the U.S. and EU sanctions over Moscow's annexation of Crimea and support for pro-Russia militias in Ukraine. The Kremlin extended the ban for an additional year last month following the EU's decision to prolong its sanctions through January.

But in a country where public criticism of official policy is rarely tolerated, some are protesting the Kremlin's crackdown on contraband comestibles.

Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, an opposition party leader that rarely criticizes Russia's leadership, said the move was "extreme" and proposed sending seized food to orphanages and residents in separatist-held regions in eastern Ukraine.

Public outcry in print, online

Indeed, the display of destroying perfectly good food comes at a time that many Russians are feeling the hurt from West-imposed sanctions enacted over Moscow's support for armed insurrection in Ukraine.

"This is no ordinary measure. This is a display of barbarity, a challenge to society, a refusal to see the ethical side, where it is most important," Vedomosti a business-oriented daily newspaper wrote in a front-page editorial.

As of Thursday, more than 265,000 Russians had signed an online petition on website Change.org calling for seized food to be given away to the needy, a sign that the crackdown on contraband food may have struck a nerve.

But so far the Kremlin has not backed down. A source in the food safety agency warned that officials who opted to "destroy" gourmet delicacies by eating them would face criminal charges, pro-Kremlin Izvestia daily reported.

Falling ruble, dismal economic forecast

Meanwhile, the value of the Russian ruble fell Thursday to more than 70 to the euro for the first time since March, deepening its recent free fall. The ruble also slid against the dollar to 64.42, its weakest since the end of February, as the currency continued to drop.

Authorities now predict that Russia‘s economy will shrink by some 2.8 percent this year, while the IMF says that prolonged Western sanctions could lead to the country losing 9 percent of its GDP.

jar/jil (AFP, AP)