. President Vladimir Putin ordered to destroy the illegal imports Thursday in the Orenburg region in the Ural Mountains and Belgorod and Smolensk near Russia’s Western border. Even one orthodox priest, Alexey Uminsky, has denounced the campaign, which officially began on Thursday, as insane and sinful. Russian importers found various loopholes to bypass the ban, including repackaging banned European food to change the country of origin and using fake documents. Now, ilegal imports are considered “a security threat”. The annual food price inflation in Russia is running at over 20 percent and experts warn that while some local farmers thrived, it would take years for Russia to reach self-sufficiency on food and prices will rise, hurting the population.
